Sean Fitzpatrick
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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.
Early life
Sean Fitzpatrick's high school education was at Sacred Heart College, Auckland.
Early rugby career
A product of the famous Auckland provincial side, he made his debut as one of the ‘Baby Blacks’ in the 1986 Test against France. Most of the regular starting fifteen for New Zealand were suspended following an unauthorised tour of South Africa, yet the All Blacks won and a number of new faces made their mark on the selectors. Despite this start, Fitzpatrick still went in to 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. 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.
Captain of the All Blacks
In 1992 Fitzpatrick was awarded the captaincy of the All Blacks, 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 50m penalty to steal a win. This was avenged in the Second Test by the Lions with their highest scoring Test win in New Zealand. In the third test, with Fitzpatrick faced the prospect of becoming only the second ever All Blacks captain to lead his team to a series defeat against the Lions. The side 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 a win over New Zealand at Twickenham. 1994 was another up and down season for the All 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 a more formidable 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. New Zealand were most pundit's pre-tournament favourites. They duly reached the final against South Africa, who had stuttered through the early stages, while the Blacks had convincingly defeated all opponents, the most remarkable being a semi-final against England. However Francois Pienaar’s side rose to the occasion, and won a close game in extra time with a Joel Stransky drop goal. It was a crushing disappointment for the All Blacks, although 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 in South African before, but under Fitzpatrick’s in 1996 they won the first two tests of the three match series. 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 in the game 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.
Legacy
To the current day Sean Fitzpartick remains an icon in New Zealand and is highly respected in South Africa. 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 United Kingdom.