All Blacks Test Debutants

The ultimate reward for any aspiring New Zealand rugby player is a test match jersey for the All Blacks.

There were 65 test debutants who earned this honour over the 130-year history of Lancaster Park. This compares to about 800 test match players at the time of the park’s closure – equating to 8%. About one in twelve All Blacks made their test debut at Lancaster Park.

Among this list of debutants are a handful who we would regard as ‘greats of the game’.  It can be a fraught exercise identifying the greatest – but we’ve listed six who, for a period of time most would agree, were arguably the best player in the world in their position:

  • Don Clarke, debut 1956 v Lions, played 34 tests
  • John Kirwan, debut 1984 v France, 63 tests
  • Sean Fitzpatrick, debut 1986 v France as part of the Baby Blacks, 92 tests
  • Frank Bunce, debut 1992 v World XV, 55 tests
  • Jonah Lomu, debut 1994 v France, 63 tests
  • Jerry Collins, debut 2001 v Argentina, 48 tests

 Here is the full list of 65 test debutants:

Lloyd Ashby, Kevin Boroevich, Frano Botica, Mike Brewer, Mark Brooke-Cowden, Frank Bunce, Don Clarke, Eric Cockroft, Jerry Collins, Mark Cooksley, Greg Cooper, Merv Corner, Kieran Crowley, Bruce Deans, Craig Dowd, Ian Dunn, Andy Earl, BP Eastgate, Peg Elsom, Alf Fanning, Jim Fitzgerald, Sean Fitzpatrick, Laurie Haig, Brett Harvey, Jock Hobbs, Jack Hore, John Hotop, Ian Irvine, Chris Jack, Lyn Jaffray, Howard Joseph, Richard Kahui, David Kirk, John Kirwan, Jonah Lomu, Gordon Macpherson, Laurie Mains, Simon Mannix, Alby Mathewson, Hugh McLaren, Kevin Meates, Peter Murdoch, Mike O'Callaghan, Arran Pene, Bill Phillips, Rex Pickering, Murray Pierce, Ron Rangi, Ponty Reid, Scott Robertson, Graham Sims, Alan Smith, Bruce Smith, Joe Stanley, Mark Taylor, Murray Taylor, Warwick Taylor, Jim Tilyard, Richard Turner, Russell Watt, Murray Watts, George Whitelock, Fred Woodman, Terry Wright and Rudi Wulf.
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