Campbell Burnes on Rugby
Former Manu Samoa No 10 and freelance rugby scribe Campbell Burnes pays tribute to one of our great rugby warriors and locks.
Sam Whitelock is now our most capped All Black.
At 35, he is now with French Top 14 club Pau after a remarkable 14 seasons in the Black engine room. Whitelock has overtaken Richie McCaw, whose status as the greatest of All Blacks greats, and the mentally toughest player of all time,
is rock-solid.
Back in 2010, when this 21-year-old out of Feilding Ag by way of the Crusaders, was making his first steps in black, Brad Thorn told me that Whitelock would be a 10-year All Black. He was only wrong by 5 years (so far).
But right from the start, Whitelock brought good skills, a calm head and an uncoachable competitiveness to his work. His output for the Crusaders was tremendous, and his long-range try against the Queensland Reds a few seasons back was one of the finest solo tries by a lock you will ever see.
Whilst he has skippered the All Blacks on several occasions, there was a strong case for him to be appointed fulltime to the job after Kieran Read’s retirement in 2019. Instead, Ian Foster opted for Sam Cane. It didn’t affect Whitelock’s rugby.
He was always a big-match player, but would still be consistent the rest of the time. In the 2015 Rugby World Cup semifinal against South Africa, he came up with one of many big plays during his Test career, stealing a Victor Matfield lineout at a crucial juncture of the match.
What about the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific final, in which he led a dynamic, dominant Crusaders pack effort that shut out the Blues at both set-piece and collision time? He was never a ranter or raver, just providing the calm leadership and lead by example play of the greats.
In the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific final, his 182nd and last Super Rugby match, he defied medical and All Blacks advice on his dodgy Achilles to front for the full 80 minutes, help shut out the physical Chiefs forwards and add to his legacy in Crusaderland.
While his locking partner Brodie Retallick is rightly lauded as one of the finest locks of all time, Whitelock should be in that conversation. Time and again, he has helped the All Blacks out of a pickle. In August’s Dunedin Bledisloe, he guided the comeback after a rocky start and they may not have won without his clear thinking and leadership, not to mention lineout prowess, scrum and mauling ability.
There was a time, around five years, when he was dropped briefly by the All Blacks, Steve Hansen saying, justifiably, that he was “one-paced” in his play. That was mainly down to overplaying and having little left in the tank, but he bounced back strongly. Even this year, when Scott Barrett was playing the house down and it looked like he might be consigned to the number three locking role, Whitelock still showed his worth.
His consistency across nearly 15 seasons of first-class rugby and over 350 games has been astonishing in a highly demanding position.
When we think of rugby warriors, McCaw might top the list. Stirling Mortlock of the Wallabies never looked like a warrior, until he drove his shoulder into your solar plexus or put a front-fend on your face.
Whitelock has that craggy face that fits the warrior image. And, importantly, he has backed it up week-in and week-out with one of the great rugby careers. Manawatu, Canterbury and all of New Zealand tip their hats to you, Sam.
