Joshua Adrian Kronfeld (born 20 June 1971) is a TV presenter and a former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

footballer who represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

at international level and

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

, the Highlanders and

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

at first-class level. During his international career, Kronfeld played in 56 games for the All Blacks, gaining 54 test caps, including appearances at both the

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

and 1999 Rugby World Cups. Kronfeld played as an openside flanker, and his greatest attribute was considered to be the speed with which he was able to get to breakdowns in play, in order to gain or regain possession of the ball. Kronfeld is an alumnus of Aquinas College, Dunedin, and is a grand-nephew of two All Blacks of the 1930s, brothers

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

and

Frank Solomon Frank Solomon (30 May 1906 – 21 December 1991) was an American-born New Zealand Rugby Union player. He has played national provincial rugby for Auckland and international rugby for the All Blacks. Considered a pacific pioneer in New Zealand r ...

Early life

Kronfeld was born in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

Hawkes Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

, and attended

Hastings Boys' High School Hastings Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hastings, New Zealand. The school is part of the Super 8. The school was founded in 1904 as Hastings High School. In 1922, it became Hastings Technical School under the leadership of Wi ...

. Kronfeld described himself as "German-Samoan" and he is Jewish. He played his early rugby union at scrum-half and centre, switching to flanker at high school. In 1990 Kronfeld moved to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

to study physical education at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

. Here he became involved in the Otago University Rugby Club. After playing one game in 1992, Kronfeld gained a starting position in the

team in the

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

(NPC) for 1993. Kronfeld would eventually play 69 matches for Otago. He completed his BPhEd degree in 1993.

Rugby career

Kronfeld made his All Black test debut in 1995, playing against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. He played in the 1995 Rugby World Cup including the final in which the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

lost a thrilling game to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. After the inception of the

Super 12 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 Hem ...

competition in 1996, Kronfeld also played for the Highlanders Super 12 franchise. In total, Kronfeld made 42 appearances for the Highlanders. He made five appearances in the

’ 1999 World Cup campaign, which included the game against England and the amazing semi-final with

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

that took place at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

. Kronfeld remained a first choice player for Otago, the Highlanders and the All Blacks until 2000. At the end of the 2000 season, after 69 matches for Otago, 42 for the Highlanders in the Super 12 and 56 All Black matches including 54 tests, Kronfeld left New Zealand rugby to take up a lucrative contract with the English club, Leicester. In May 2001 he officially signed with English club

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

. After an injury-hit start to the 2001-02 season Kronfeld recovered well, establishing himself as a regular first-team player. He was an unused replacement as Leicester won the 2002 Heineken Cup Final. He was twice voted by fans Player of the Month, once

Zurich Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

Player of the Month and then named by his Tigers colleagues as their Players' Player of the Season 2002-03. In 2003, Kronfeld returned to New Zealand, and subsequently retired from first-class rugby.

Life After Rugby

Kronfeld has made numerous media appearances, e.g. Celebrity Treasure Island. He has also returned to the University of Otago to study physiotherapy. In 2009 Kronfeld participated in the fifth season of

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

's entertainment series ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

''. From September to December 2012 Josh Kronfeld hosted the

ChoiceTV Eden (stylized as eden and formerly known as Choice TV) is a privately owned, national free-to-air television channel in New Zealand and has been on air since 2012. The channel features programs on topics such as: lifestyle, news, travel, reali ...

show Brunch (New Zealand) for Season One with April Ieremia. in 2009 9 17 son named cassius.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kronfeld, Josh 1971 births New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand people of German-Jewish descent New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand international rugby union players Leicester Tigers players Highlanders (rugby union) players Rugby union flankers Jewish rugby union players New Zealand Jews People educated at Hastings Boys' High School University of Otago alumni Rugby union players from Hastings, New Zealand Living people

Early life

Rugby career

Life After Rugby

See also

References

External links