Luke Romano (born 16 February 1986) is a New Zealand

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 it ...

footballer who plays as a

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

for the Blues in Super Rugby and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

in the

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...

. He played for 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, ...

from 2012 - 2017 and was a key member of 2015 Rugby World Cup winning team.

Career

Romano is a

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 ...

international, making his debut on 23 June 2012 in a 60–0 win against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

. He currently has over 30 caps and has scored 2 tries. Romano was a regular starter for the early stages of his international career, but missed many opportunities to play through injuries which saw his starting spot taken by Brodie Retallick. Romano only played one international match in 2014, a 24-16 victory over Scotland off the bench. Romano's return from injury in 2015 saw him named in the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Romano earned starts against Namibia and Tonga in the tournament, with both fixtures being victories for New Zealand. Romano had good form throughout Super Rugby in 2016, allowing him to start against Wales for the first test of the year. He missed the end of year fixtures however, allowing Scott Barrett to make his debut for New Zealand after coming into the squad as injury cover for Romano and Sam Whitelock. After returning to rugby in the 2017 Brisbane Global Rugby Tens, Romano lost his regular starting spot in the Crusaders to Barrett in 2017. Romano started against the touring

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

team in a 3-12 loss that year however, due to injury to Barrett. Romano reverted to a regular role off the bench upon Barrett's return from injury and was used as a replacement in all three of the knockout rounds of the

2017 Super Rugby season The 2017 Super Rugby season was the 22nd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It was the second season featuring an expa ...

, including the 25-17 winning final against the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

. Romano was retained for the

2017 Rugby Championship The 2017 Rugby Championship was the sixth edition of the expanded annual southern hemisphere Rugby Championship, featuring Argentina, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. The competition is operated by SANZAAR, a joint venture of the four c ...

, and was used as a replacement in the record 54-34 in over Australia to open the competition. Romano went on to make five more appearances for the All Blacks in 2017, starting in all of them after Retallick opted not to play any more rugby in 2017 due to personal reasons. Those fixtures were two wins against Argentina in the Rugby Championship and against the Barbarians, France and Scotland on the end-of-year tour. The test cap against Scotland on 19 November 2017 was Romano’s last All Black appearance as he was ruled out for the year's final test against Wales due to illness and not selected for the All Blacks in the 2018 or subsequent seasons. In 2022, the 35 year old Romano was not reselected for the Crusaders team. He was instead picked up, by the rival Blues, to bolster the number of experienced players in their line-up. On 15 April 2022, he helped the Blues to their first win over his old team the Crusaders at Christchurch in 18 years. Romano continues to play for the Canterbury NPC team.

Personal life

Romano did not play international rugby for the Autumn Internationals in 2016 due to the death of a relative. Romano is a qualified builder and he is of Italian heritage through his grandfather.

References

External links

*
Luke Romano itsrugby.co.uk Player Statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romano, Luke 1986 births New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand people of Italian descent New Zealand international rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players Canterbury rugby union players Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Nelson, New Zealand Living people Blues (Super Rugby) players