Full name | Carlos James Spencer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 14 October 1975 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Levin, New Zealand [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 95 kg (209 lb; 14 st 13 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Waiopehu College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation(s) | Head Coach Assistant Coach | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Carlos James Spencer (born 14 October 1975) is a former New Zealand rugby union player and previously the head coach of the Eastern Province Kings and the Munakata Sanix Blues. He is currently an assistant coach for the New Orleans Gold of Major League Rugby (MLR).
During his playing days, he played at fly-half (first five-eighth) for the Blues and Lions in Super Rugby and for New Zealand internationally.
He generally specialised in the position of fly-half, also known as "first five-eighth" or "number 10", although he also played fullback (number 15) at national and international levels.
Spencer first rose to prominence when he starred alongside Christian Cullen in a Ranfurly Shield challenge in 1994, playing for the Horowhenua team against Auckland. Auckland coach Graham Henry spotted Spencer's talent and recruited him to play for the Auckland team.[ citation needed ]
He played for the Blues Super 12 team from the inception of the competition in 1996 until 2005, and for the Auckland NPC side.
In 1996, Spencer played for the Blues in the first ever Super 12-match, kicking off the professional era of rugby union. He went on to score 608 points for the Blues in the Super Rugby competition. [2]
In 2005 he signed to the English club, Northampton Saints, where he stayed until 30 January 2009.[ citation needed ] On 3 February 2009 he signed for Gloucester on a 17-month contract.[ citation needed ]
In January 2010 Spencer signed with the Johannesburg-based Golden Lions, to play for the team in the 2010 and 2011 Super Rugby seasons. The contract offered to him was said at the time to be the highest ever in South Africa. [3] He subsequently took up a coaching role with the team, before being released following the 2012 season. He moved to the Durban-based Sharks for the 2013 season.
In December 2013, he signed a five-year contract to become the kicking and specialist skills coach at Port Elizabeth-based side, the Eastern Province Kings. [4] He was appointed as their head coach on 20 February 2014. [5] He was in charge for just one Currie Cup season, 2014, where they achieved just one victory in ten matches. Brent Janse van Rensburg was appointed as head coach for the 2015 Currie Cup Premier Division season with Spencer reverting to kicking and specialist skills coach. [6] However, Spencer left the coaching staff a month later. [7]
Spencer first played for the All Blacks in a non-test tour match on 4 November 1995, but did not play his first test match until 1997. His test debut was against Argentina at Athletic Park in Wellington on 21 June that year. He scored 33 points in that match alone.
His All Black appearances as a starter were somewhat irregular thereafter, as Andrew Mehrtens was generally preferred as the first-choice flyhalf for the side during the period from 1995–2002. He was selected for the 1999 All Blacks World Cup squad but became injured in training at London, so did not play a match in that tournament. [8] However, following an exceptional season for the Blues in Super 12, Spencer became first-choice first five-eighth for the All Blacks in 2003, and was a part of the squad for the Rugby World Cup that year.
In 2004, Carlos Spencer struggled to find the same form he had displayed the previous year, and Mehrtens replaced him for the final game of that year's Tri Nations. He was then ruled out of the final All Black tour of the year through injury. In 2005 Spencer lost form early in the Super 12 competition and then suffered a fractured cheekbone in training. He agreed to play for the New Zealand Māori (in his 10th match for that team) against the touring Lions, but made himself unavailable for the All Blacks so that he would not miss training for his new English club, Northampton Saints.
As a player, Spencer was valued for his imaginative kicking and passing game, and his ability to unlock defences. He was also a handy, if not entirely reliable, goal kicker. Only five players have scored more test points than Spencer for New Zealand — Daniel Carter 1,598, Andrew Mehrtens 967, Grant Fox 645, Beauden Barrett 465, and most recently, Aaron Cruden 322.
On 3 December 2011, Spencer stepped into the boxing ring against Rugby league's Awen Guttenbeil in Fight for Life 2011 in Auckland, New Zealand. The fight was controversially ruled a draw despite Spencer knocking down Guttenbeil with seconds remaining on the last round. [9]
In 2006, Spencer was named in the Guinness Premiership Awards Dream Team [10] and collected the Player of the Year award for the 2005–06 season at the Northampton Saints annual awards, as voted for by the club's fans. [11] He played in four matches for Bob Dwyer's World XV team in 2006, including a match for the Barbarians against England at Twickenham on 28 May and a 30–27 loss to the Springboks at Ellis Park on 3 June.
Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hemisphere competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986, with teams from a number of southern nations, the Super Rugby started as the Super 12 in the 1996 season with 12 teams from 3 countries: Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The Super 12 was established by SANZAR after the sport became professional in 1995. At its peak the tournament featured the top players from nations representing 16 of the 24 top-three finishes in the history of the Rugby World Cup. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the competition to split into three, the reformed competition in 2021 and beyond will only include Oceanian clubs representing Australia, New Zealand and from the Pacific islands.
The Crusaders are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch, who compete in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in the competition's history and have won 12 titles, as well as two regionalised titles in 2020 and 2021.
The Blues is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby teams, the Blues were established by the NZRU in 1996. One of the most successful teams in Super Rugby history, the Blues won the competition in its first two seasons, 1996 and 1997, and again in 2003, as well as a Trans Tasman competition in 2021, additionally, the team were finalists in 1998 and 2022 and semi-finalists in 2007, 2011 and 2023.
Jonathan Ionatana Falefasa Umaga is a New Zealand former rugby union footballer and former captain of the national team, the All Blacks. Since 2016 he has been coach of the Blues in the Super Rugby competition.
Andrew Philip Mehrtens is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He was regarded as a top first five-eighth, having played first for Canterbury in 1993, before being selected for the All Blacks in 1995 when he played in the 1995 World Cup.
Sean Brian Thomas Fitzpatrick is a former rugby union player who represented New Zealand, and is widely regarded as one of the finest players ever to come from that country.
Daniel William Carter is a retired New Zealand rugby union player.
The Golden Lions is a South African professional rugby union team based in Johannesburg who compete in the annual Currie Cup and Rugby Challenge. The team is governed by the Golden Lions Rugby Union (GLRU), and was originally known as Transvaal, before changes to the political landscape in South Africa forced a name change to the Gauteng Lions, before again being changed to the Golden Lions. The GLRU also operates the associated United Rugby Championship franchise Lions, which also draw players from Griquas.
Victor Matfield is a South African former professional rugby union player. He played for and captained the South Africa national team (Springboks) as well as the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup and the Bulls franchise in Super Rugby. He is generally considered one of the best locks to have ever played for South Africa and had a long successful partnership with Springbok and Blue Bulls teammate Bakkies Botha.
Isakeli "Isa" Nacewa is a former rugby union player and coach. Born in New Zealand of Fijian descent, he represented the Fiji national team, winning one cap in 2003.
Alexander James "Ali" Williams is a New Zealand rugby union player who played at lock, spending almost all of his playing career in his homeland. At provincial level, he played mainly with Auckland, though he spent one season with Tasman and was also loaned out to Nottingham in England's second-level RFU Championship in 2010. At Super Rugby level, he played for both the Blues and Crusaders. Williams played for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks, between 2002 and 2012. He was in the All Blacks' squad for the 2003, 2007 and 2011 World Cups. In 2005, NZ Rugby Almanack chose him as one of its five players of the year. Williams spent what were to have been the final two seasons of his career in France with Toulon, playing there from 2013 to 2015. He came out of retirement to play in the 2016/17 season for top French club Racing 92. On 25 February 2017 Williams was arrested in Paris for allegedly buying cocaine.
Tasesa James Lavea is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. He is of Samoan and Māori descent and heritage, and he coaches the 1st XV for Saint Kentigern College.
Awen Guttenbeil is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. Since retiring after a playing career spanning fifteen years, he went on to work as a broadcaster for Sky Network Television and as a presenter on Maori TV sports show, Hyundai Code. In 2010 he coached his schoolboy club Point Chevalier Pirates in the Auckland Rugby League's Phelan Shield alongside former team mate and childhood friend Stacey Jones. He represented both the Tongan and New Zealand national sides in his long career and played in two World Cups. His position of preference was in the Second-Row. He was an integral part of the 2002 New Zealand Warriors squad, noted for being the first team in the club's history to make the NRL Grand Final. He now owns and operates several construction businesses in New Zealand including Passive Fire NZ.
Jerome Kaino is a former New Zealand rugby union player.
Lee Stensness is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer who played for Manawatu, Auckland, the Blues and the All Blacks. He made his debut for the All Blacks in 1993.
Michael Byrne, nicknamed Mick the Kick, is a former Australian rules footballer and rugby union coach, whom specialises in kicking and team skills. Byrne played with Melbourne, Hawthorn and Sydney in the Victorian Football League (VFL) from 1977 to 1989. He also coached his junior side in 1994–95. Currently Byrne is the head coach of Super Rugby Pacific team Fijian Drua ahead of there 2022 season.
Morné Steyn is a South African former professional rugby union player who played as a fly-half for the Bulls and played for the South Africa national team, up until his retirement from international test rugby in October 2021.
Hadleigh William Parkes is a New Zealand-born Welsh international rugby union player, whose favoured position is at the centre. He currently plays for the Black Rams Tokyo in the Japan Rugby League One. Parkes also has a successful BBC sport rugby union column.
Dean Bradley Hall is a South African former professional rugby player. He played on the wing. He played the majority of his career for the Johannesburg based teams, the Golden Lions in the Currie Cup and Vodacom Cup and the Cats in Super Rugby. Later in his career he moved to Durban and played for the Sharks in the Currie Cup, the Natal Wildebeest in the Vodacom Cup and the Sharks in Super Rugby. He was also capped thirteen times for the Springboks and scored four test tries. His career was hampered with injury and he never reached his full potential. He was quite large for a wing, but in the wake of Jonah Lomu's sensation at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, it was hoped that Dean Hall would become the Springbok's massive wing.
Rieko Edward Ioane is a New Zealand professional rugby union footballer who plays as a wing or as a centre for New Zealand team Blues in Super Rugby and the New Zealand national team. In his youth career, he was selected to play in the 2014 and 2015 Sevens World Series for New Zealand and took part in Auckland Grammar School first XV, the top representative team in secondary school.