Sean Fitzpatrick

Sean Brian Thomas Fitzpatrick (born 4 January 1963 in Auckland) is a New Zealand rugby union player, widely regarded as one of the finest players ever to come from that country. Perhaps only Colin Meads can challenge “Fitzy’s” position at the top of the All Blacks pantheon.

A product of the famous Auckland provincial side, he made his debut as one of the ‘Baby Blacks’ in the famous 1986 Test against France. Most of the regular starting fifteen for New Zealand were suspended following a ‘rebel’ tour of South Africa, yet the Kiwis won and a number of new faces made their mark on the selectors. Despite this start, Fitzpatrick still went into the inaugural Rugby World Cup as second choice to Captain Andy Dalton. However, Dalton had to withdraw from the early stages of the tournament due to injury, leaving the understudy to take centre stage. Such was Fitzpatrick’s impact that, although Dalton recovered by the later stages, he kept his place in the team, leaving scrum-half David Kirk to skipper the side to victory against France in the Final at Eden Park, Auckland.

The remaining years of the 1980’s saw the All Blacks dominate rugby union with a side packed full of stars, including Wayne Shelford, John Kirwan, Michael Jones and Grant Fox. Yet by the time of the 1991 World Cup the Australians had put together a side more than capable of challenging them. They met in the semi-final at Landsdowne Road, Dublin and the David Campese-inspired Wallabies came out on top.

The following season when Fitzpatrick was awarded the captaincy of his country, a position he held until his retirement from Test Rugby. A first Test match win against the South Africans since their return from isolation plus series victories over a World XV and Ireland were dampened by the loss of the Bledisloe Cup in Australia.

The biggest event in Rugby union in 1993 was the British Lions tour to New Zealand. The first test went narrowly to the All Blacks, with Grant Fox kicking a last minute penalty to steal a win. This was avenged in the Second Test by the Lions with their best ever Test win in New Zealand. Fitzpatrick was staring down the barrel of being only the second ever All Blacks captain to lead their team to a series defeat against the Lions. They were 10-0 down at one point, but recovered to take the match convincingly and with it the series.

Unwanted history could not be avoided on the end of season tour to Britain however, as England picked up one of their rare wins over New Zealand at Twickenham. 1994 was another up and down season for the Blacks. South Africa were defeated two-nil, with one game drawn. However France caused one of Rugby union’s bigger upsets with a two-nil series victory.

By the time of the 1995 World Cup New Zealand had assembled another great side. Ian Jones, Jeff Wilson, Andrew Mehrtens and Zinzan Brooke had proved themselves as World Class players, and Jonah Lomu would spectacularly announce himself during the tournament. With this squad under his command, many felt it was Fitzpatrick’s destiny to lift the Cup. They duly reached the final against South Africa and looked firm favourites. The Springboks had stuttered through the early stages, while the Blacks had blitzed all that came before them, with the semi-final against England being particularly awesome. However Francois Pienaar’s side rose to the occasion with aplomb, and won the game in extra time with a Joel Stransky drop goal. It was a crushing defeat for a truly brilliant team, yet they would not have to wait long to exact revenge.

After storming through the first Tri-Nations competition, they embarked upon a further three-match series in South Africa. No New Zealand side had ever won a series on South African soil before 1996, yet Fitzpatrick’s men took the first two tests and made history. The 1996 All Blacks were one of the great teams in the history of the game, and the series win cemented their captain’s place among the true greats. Continued success with Auckland in the NPC and the Auckland Blues in the new Super 12 continued in the following seasons, but it was clear that Fitzpatrick’s days as the best hooker in the world were numbered. He was carrying an injury in the autumn of 1997, yet such was his status that coach John Hart thought it would be good for the other players to include him in the party. He made his last Test appearance as a substitute in the victory against Wales at Wembley.

Such is Sean Fitzpatrick’s standing that he could walk into any coaching job in world rugby. So far however he has rejected any such offers and is currently working as an analyst for the BBC and Sky Sports in the UK.

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Some other facts

Sean Fitzpatrick's education was at Sacred Heart College (Auckland) Fitzpatrick is godfather to former Sportscafe presenter Ric Salizzo's son Carlo Salizzo.

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Some other facts