Ian Kirkpatrick

Ian Andrew Kirkpatrick (born 24 May 1946) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. Described as "supremely athletic, fast, fearless and with an uncanny sense of anticipation", Kirkpatrick is widely regarded as one of the greatest flankers to have ever played the game. His try-scoring ability was astonishing; at the time Kirkpatrick played rugby, it was rare for forwards to score tries, but his 16 test tries were an All Black record until Stu Wilson surpassed it in 1983. He also captained the All Blacks and was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2014.

Early life, background and career Kirkpatrick grew up in a farming community. He followed rugby from age 10.

Kirkpatrick attended King's College, Auckland where he was in the First XV from 1962 to 1964, helping the side win the 1A championship in 1963. He was first XV captain and head prefect in 1964. Additionally, he was the school boxing, sprint, hurdles and pole vault champion.

Kirkpatrick worked as a farmer. With his only warm-up being the run down the stairs from the reserve seats, Kirkpatrick scored a hat-trick of tries in a 27–11 victory.

Tours to South Africa were sometimes cancelled due to apartheid during this time. Kirkpatrick has said he was “never comfortable” with apartheid but adopted the position of many leading players at the time and that playing South Africa was the “ultimate challenge”.

In his career Kirkpatrick was one of the first names on the All Blacks team sheet, playing a then-record 38 consecutive tests for the All Blacks.

In 1971, he was a part of the President's Overseas XV that was chosen to play against England to celebrate the centenary of the Rugby Football Union, scoring two tries in the 28–11 win at Twickenham. Later in the 1971 Lions series, he would score one of his most famous tries, a 55-metre solo effort in the 22–12 victory in the Second Test in Christchurch.

Kirkpatrick was appointed All Black captain in 1972 and led the 1972-73 tour to Europe and North America, a tour memorable for the controversial expulsion of Keith Murdoch (which Kirkpatrick would call one of his biggest regrets)

In 2003, he was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame.

In May 2020 he was named New Zealand Rugby's patron after the death of Sir Brian Lochore in 2019.

Kirkpatrick has been called 'one of the greatest blind-sides of all time.'

Later life From 2005 to 2010 Kirkpatrick served as a part-time mentor with the Hurricanes Super Rugby franchise.

In 2020 and 2022 he expressed additional concerns about the direction of rugby, including the gladiatorial nature of the game, the massive emphasis on defence, less open play, and the need to be physically big and strong. He expressed concerns that the physicality of the modern game was behind a major dropoff in playing numbers at schools level.