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'I was waking up every three or four hours to ice it': The story behind Christian Cullen's magical debut for the All Blacks

Christian Cullen was a fullback of the sensational variety and the greatest of all time. (Source/Sky TV)

In 1996 Christian Cullen was selected for his All Black debut after a Sevens season where he and Jonah Lomu tore apart everyone on the way to 18 tries in Hong Kong, including seven in one match.

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Later that year he was called up to start against Samoa in the first test of the international season but a calf strain threatened to de-rail his debut.

“I strained my calf. I wasn’t too sure if I was going to be playing. I was waking up every three or four hours to ice it,” he later re-called.

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“Then once I went out there the pain went away. It could have been adreneline or the nerves making it go away, I don’t know, but I was pretty determined to play.

“That game we got our jerseys given to us the night before. You take it back to your room and give it a bit of a cuddle, have a look at the number and the All Black emblem on the front and fold it and put it your bag nicely.

Early in the match, a 20-year-old Cullen was hit high in a swinging arm tackle and required medical attention. A short while later he was rocked again by a Brian Lima special after fielding a kick.

The introduction to test rugby only furthered Cullen’s resolve to make something of his debut and prove he belonged on the field.

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“You want to get back up, not only show your teammates what you are made of, but the rest of New Zealand that are watching that you deserve to be there,” he said.

The mercurial fullback scored his try of the test shortly after, gliding over from the left wing after receiving the last pass from Zinzan Brooke five metres out.

“I actually remember kinda juggling it a little bit. First test, first try, you can’t get much better than that.”

Cullen went on to bag a hat-trick in the game to ignite his test career.

“It was a pretty good start for me in the All Black jersey. You remember what year, what place, who was in your team, and happy to score a hat-trick on debut.”

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His next game against Scotland yielded four tries, and set Cullen on a path of a prolific test career where he scored 46 tries in 58 tests between 1996 and 2003, where he was infamously dropped by John Mitchell.

His test career ended at the early age of 26 which in today’s age would be unheard of for a player of his calibre in the modern era. He is still regarded as the greatest fullback of all time for his elusive running style which tore teams apart.

Watch Christian Cullen’s debut for the All Blacks against Samoa

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Hellhound 19 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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