Tony Woodcock (rugby player)

Tony Woodcock
Full name Tony Dale Woodcock
Date of birth (1981-01-27) 27 January 1981
Place of birth Helensville, Auckland, New Zealand
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 120 kg (260 lb)[1]
School Kaipara College
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position Loosehead Prop
New Zealand No. 1025
Provincial/State sides
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2000–2015 North Harbour 54 (10)2t
correct as of 2 August 2011.
Super Rugby
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2002–2015
2013		 Blues
Highlanders		 137
12		 (45)9t
(5)1t
correct as of 8 July 2015.
National team(s)
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2002–2015 New Zealand 118 (50)
correct as of 9 October 2015.

Tony Dale Woodcock MNZM (born 27 January 1981) is a New Zealand rugby union player. His position is loosehead prop, and he has played 111 tests for the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks. Woodcock has played for the All Blacks since 2002,[2] scoring eight test tries. He has been described by The Dominion Post as "widely regarded as the world's premier loosehead",[3] and by The New Zealand Herald as having the "best range of skills of any prop on the planet".[4] He is now the most capped All Black prop of all time, and is the second most capped player in Blues history, behind Keven Mealamu. He is a key member of 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup winning teams, becoming one of only twenty dual Rugby Union World Cup winners.

He plays for Blues in Super Rugby, and also for North Harbour in the ITM Cup (when available).

After 113 appearances for the Blues, he joined the Highlanders for the 2013 Super Rugby season.[5] However about a year later, after spending a year with the Highlanders who came 2nd to last in Super Rugby, Woodcock decided to return to the Blues where he would be closer to his family. He signed a 1-year contract. Woodcock has a reputation for playing as much rugby as possible. In 2005 he played in the first eleven of the twelve All Black test matches that year. From 2001 to 2004, he played in every match for North Harbour, except for the first two matches of 2004 due to being on All Black duty, and in 2002 and 2003, he played the full eighty minutes of every game for North Harbour. In 2006, he requested and received permission from the All Black coaching staff to return a week early from his enforced rest due to All Black duty, to play in North Harbour's Ranfurly Shield challenge against Canterbury, a match that North Harbour won 21–17, making them the Ranfurly Shield holders for the first time.

He was the first All Black prop to score a test try against Australia in 20 years and on 2 August 2008 he became the first All Black prop to score two tries in a match (a rare feat for a prop against any side) against Australia in over 50 years.

He scored New Zealand's only try in the 2011 Rugby World Cup Final against France,[6] becoming the first All Black prop to score a try in a Rugby World Cup final, and only the second prop ever to do so.

He received his 100th cap for the All Blacks in a test match in Wellington against Australia on 24 August 2013.

Woodcock was named in the 31-man squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, where he scored a against Tonga in the final pool match. His 118 test-match career in rugby union unfortunately ended in the same match, when he was injured. Joe Moody was subsequently flown over to England from New Zealand in order to replace Woodcock, who collected his medal following New Zealand's victory in the final against Australia's Wallabies.

Outside rugby, Woodcock has a sheep and dairy farm near Kaukapakapa.[7]

International tries

Try Opposing team Location Venue Competition Date Result
1  Australia Melbourne, Australia, Docklands Stadium, 2007 Tri Nations Series 30 June 2007 Lost
2  Australia Auckland, New Zealand Eden Park 2007 Tri Nations Series 21 July 2007 Won
3  Australia Auckland, New Zealand Eden Park 2008 Tri Nations Series 2 August 2008 Won
4  Australia Auckland, New Zealand Eden Park 2008 Tri Nations Series 2 August 2008 Won
5  Australia Brisbane, Australia Lang Park 2008 Tri Nations Series 13 September 2008 Won
6  South Africa Auckland, New Zealand Eden Park 2010 Tri Nations Series 10 July 2010 Won
7  South Africa Johannesburg, South Africa Soccer City 2010 Tri Nations Series 21 August 2010 Won
8  France Auckland, New Zealand Eden Park 2011 Rugby World Cup 23 October 2011 Won
9  Wales Cardiff, Wales Millennium Stadium 2012 End of Year Tour 25 November 2012 Won
10  Tonga Newcastle, England St. James Park 2015 Rugby World Cup 9 October 2015 Won

References

  1. ↑ http://stats.allblacks.com/asp/Profile.asp?ABID=1028
  2. ↑ Gray, Wynne (3 August 2008). "Wynne Gray: Double cause to celebrate, and sexy to boot". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
  3. ↑ "Woodcock quietly confident". The Dominion Post. 4 July 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
  4. ↑ Paul, Gregor (24 December 2006). "Gregor Paul: Rugby's world XV". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
  5. ↑ "Woodcock leaves Blues for Highlanders". Blues. 9 Sep 2012. Retrieved 9 Sep 2012.
  6. ↑ Murray, Scott (23 October 2011). "Rugby World Cup final: New Zealand v France – as it happened". Guardian. UK. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  7. ↑ Gray, Wynne (4 June 2004). "The farmers in the front row". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.