Will Ma'a Nonu be the 6th All Black Centurion to reach 100 caps?

[Kapa O Pango]

At moment in order there are 5 All Blacks with 100+ caps and over.

Richie Mccaw (123)
Mils Muliaina (100)
Keven Mealamu (110)
Tony Woodcock (108)
Dan Carter (100)

At moment with Nonu at 88 caps, can he reach the hall mark of possible being the 6th All Black centurion?

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

At moment in order there are 5 All Blacks with 100+ caps and over.

Richie Mccaw (123)
Mils Muliaina (100)
Keven Mealamu (110)
Tony Woodcock (108)
Dan Carter (100)

At moment with Nonu at 88 caps, can he reach the hall mark of possible being the 6th All Black centurion?

The ***le is a bit redundant but as for the question I'd be surprised if he didn't; Ellison I'm assuming is still unavailable? SBW not available yet and I can't see him being displaced by Sai'ili on a permanent basis over the next 2 years so assuming he stays injury free and plays even only half the fixtures from here to the RWC, yes, a 100 caps is very likely IMO.

EDIT: which is a real accolade considering he is playing for a team like the ABs where staying ahead of the contenders counts for a lot IMO.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

It's amazing that all the NZ centurions are from the same batch of players.

 

[nickdnz]

It's amazing that all the NZ centurions are from the same batch of players.

Yeah - over 100 years of international rugby, nearly 20 years of the game being professional and we had no centurians till 2011 - now we will likely have 6 next year.

That said of our centurians only Carter and McCaw would probably be the best in their positions in the history of the All Blacks.

 

[Jack Reacher]

remember, in the 90s we were only playing 8 or 9 tests a year, now its 14 - Sam Whitelock has played 50 and he only debuted in 2010!

 

[nickdnz]

remember, in the 90s we were only playing 8 or 9 tests a year, now its 14 - Sam Whitelock has played 50 and he only debuted in 2010!

Yeah, that's crazy! Three years and 50 tests.

 

[Jack Reacher]

Yeah, that's crazy! Three years and 50 tests.

Fitzpatrick never missed a match 93 tests in 12 years, Whitelock will do it in 6/7! Still, he is still being selected for each match, so a great player.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

The ***le is a bit redundant but as for the question I'd be surprised if he didn't; Ellison I'm assuming is still unavailable? SBW not available yet and I can't see him being displaced by Sai'ili on a permanent basis over the next 2 years so assuming he stays injury free and plays even only half the fixtures from here to the RWC, yes, a 100 caps is very likely IMO.

EDIT: which is a real accolade considering he is playing for a team like the ABs where staying ahead of the contenders counts for a lot IMO.

its harder to get out of the AB's than in!

 

[smartcooky]

Yeah - over 100 years of international rugby, nearly 20 years of the game being professional and we had no centurians till 2011 - now we will likely have 6 next year.

That said of our centurians only Carter and McCaw would probably be the best in their positions in the history of the All Blacks.

Nick

In their history to date, the All Blacks have played 511 official test matches. It took them 93 years to notch up the first 295 of those during the Amatuer Era (1903 to 1995), and only 18 years of the professional era (from 1996) to play the next 216.

Right there in those statistics, is your answer. Prior to the professional era, the All Blacks averaged just over 3 matches per year. A player would have to be an All Black for about 34 years to clock up 100 tests! Now they average 13 tests per year, so stay in the team and be selected consistently for 8 years and you'll get your 100.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Who else is close to 3 figures and could potentially beat Nonu to it if say perhaps he got injured? Conrad Smith?

 

[smartcooky]

Who else is close to 3 figures and could potentially beat Nonu to it if say perhaps he got injured? Conrad Smith?

Conrad Smith (75) Kieran Read (60) are the next two cabs off the rank.


If he keeps being selected, Conrad could be bringing up his 100 around the time of the 2015 RWC

3 v England 2014
6 - Rugby Championship 2014
4 - EOYT 2014
6 - Rugby Championship 2015
7 - RWC 2015 (assuming we make the final, minimum 5)

Thats 26 matches. I doubt there will be any June tour matches in RWC year, but they may have a couple of warm up matches, so there could be as may an 28.

 

[Jaguares]

Yeah - over 100 years of international rugby, nearly 20 years of the game being professional and we had no centurians till 2011 - now we will likely have 6 next year.

That said of our centurians only Carter and McCaw would probably be the best in their positions in the history of the All Blacks.

Before there were fewer international matches, players now have more caps a year then it's easier to reach 100 caps.

Who else is close to 3 figures and could potentially beat Nonu to it if say perhaps he got injured? Conrad Smith?

Yeah, Conrad could reach 100 caps! He deserve it. In Wallabies I think that Michael Hooper could reach 100 caps. He played his first cap last year and now has 26 caps!!!. And he's only 22!

Cheers

 

[admartian]

Lucky for Nonu, SBW can't seem to decide what shoe to wear let alone whether to stick to a sport or not.

In any case, He's come along well (if you followed him early on, you thought he was another one of those guys that show promise but never deliver). I'm cortical of him lately, but mainly due to his questionable decision making (bonehead penalties/bins, hospital/intercept passes) and seemingly overly-falling in love with his new found "kicking game" . But he's as talented as they come and the ABs are lucky with him. Not to mention he saves his best for them.

 

[Big Ewis]

pretty awesome if you ask me. McCaw's 123 caps are just insane, it's pretty hard to believe.
Sure Nonu will reach 100.

In the French team, our most capped member is Szarzewski with just over 70, with Michalak, Dusautoir, Mas in the 60's..

 

[Tony Manx]

The proliferation of centurians just goes to show the increased number of internationals now played annually which, I have to say, has diminished to me the allure of internationals..........for instance, the tours of the Birtish Isles that lasted for weeks and involved mid week games on a 3/4 year basis were magnificent and now England alone will play the ABs 5 times in a year and usually at least twice a year and usually when one or the other team is knackered!

In addition, the proliferation of caps to the subs bench anytime after say the 70th minute is actually a total disrespect to people like McCaw and all the other centurians who usually start and, injury apart, finish games playing the full 80 minutes..........that being said I do not feel the same where injury replacements get caps (or even tactical ones) where they play decent game time.