Sean Brian Thomas Fitzpatrick (born 4 June 1963) is a New Zealand 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 ...

player. He played for the dominant Auckland team in the late 1980s and 1990s, and won the first two Super 12 titles with the

Auckland Blues The Blues (known as the Auckland Blues from 1996 to 2000) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby teams, the Blues were established by ...

in 1996 and 1997. He made his debut for the

New Zealand national team New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

(the All Blacks) in 1986, and went on to win 92 international caps. He was part of the New Zealand side that won the first Rugby World Cup in 1987. He captained New Zealand from 1992 until his retirement in 1997, winning a grim test series against the British Lions in 1993, reaching and losing the 1995 World Cup final, and winning a series in South Africa in 1996.

Early life and family

Fitzpatrick was born in

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 ...

on 4 June 1963, the son of Brian Fitzpatrick, also a New Zealand international player. He is the nephew of

Rosanne Meo Dame Rosanne Philippa Meo (née O'Loghlen; born 1945/1946) is a New Zealand businesswoman based in Auckland. In 1991, she was the first female president of the Employers' Federation. She sits or has sat on the boards of NZ Forest Products, Tel ...

and the great-grandson of

Miriam Soljak Miriam Bridelia Soljak (; 15 June 1879 – 28 March 1971) was a pioneering New Zealand feminist, communist, unemployed rights activist and supporter of family planning efforts. Born in Thames, New Zealand, she was raised as a Catholic and studie ...

. Fitzpatrick's high school education was at Sacred Heart College,

. As a primary school student he attended at Mt Carmel Primary (Auckland).

Early rugby career

A product of the powerful

provincial side, Fitzpatrick made his international debut as one of the "Baby Blacks" in the 1986 Test series in

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 ...

. Although most of the regular starting fifteen for New Zealand had been suspended following the unauthorised

New Zealand Cavaliers The Cavaliers was an unofficial New Zealand rugby union team which toured South Africa in 1986. Because of the Apartheid policies of the South African government, the official New Zealand Rugby Union tour scheduled for 1985 was cancelled, and th ...

tour of South Africa, the All Blacks won, and a number of new faces made their mark on the selectors. Despite this start, Fitzpatrick went into the

1987 Rugby Union World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two quarter-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 ...

as second choice to captain

Andy Dalton Andrew Gregory Dalton (born October 29, 1987) is an American football quarterback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "Red Rifle", Dalton previously played for the Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, and ...

. Dalton missed the early stages of the tournament due to injury, and although he recovered in time for the knockout stages, Fitzpatrick kept his place in the team, leaving scrum-half

David Kirk David Edward Kirk (born 5 October 1960) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. He is best known for having been the captain of the All Blacks when they won the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987. Early years Kirk was born in Wellington and ...

to skipper the side to victory against France in the final at

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 ...

in 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

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

since their return from isolation, plus series victories over a World XV and

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 ...

were dampened by the loss of the

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition originally staged between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has va ...

in Australia. The biggest event of the rugby calendar in 1993 was the

British & 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 ...

tour to New Zealand. The first test went narrowly to the All Blacks, with Grant Fox kicking a last minute 50-metre 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 of 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 2–0 with one game drawn. However, France caused a major upset by winning their series in New Zealand 2–0, the first and until 2022, only European team to achieve this. By the time of the 1995 World Cup New Zealand had assembled a more formidable side. Ian Jones, Jeff Wilson,

Andrew Mehrtens Andrew Philip Mehrtens (born 28 April 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He was regarded as a top first five-eighth, having played first for Canterbury in 1993, before being selected for the All Blacks (New Zealand's national te ...

Zinzan Brooke Zinzan Valentine Brooke (born Murray Zinzan Brooke on 14 February 1965) is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer who played at number eight. Brooke played 58 tests for New Zealand, and 42 non-international matches for the All Blacks. He ...

and

Jonah Lomu Jonah Tali Lomu (12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015) was a New Zealand professional rugby union player. Lomu is considered to have been the first true global superstar of rugby, and consequently had a huge impact on the game. He is widely regarde ...

had proved themselves as world-class players. New Zealand were most pundit's pre-tournament favourites. The All Blacks had convincingly defeated all opponents, the most remarkable being a semi-final against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, in which Lomu scored four tries. They met the hosts, South Africa in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, who had stuttered through the early stages. South Africa won the tournament in extra time with a

Joel Stransky Joel Theodore Stransky (born 16 July 1967) is a South African former rugby union player. A fly-half, he is known for scoring all of South Africa's points, including the winning drop goal, against New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final. ...

drop goal. After storming through the first

Tri Nations Series The Rugby Championship is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are the four highest ranked national teams in the Southern Hemisphere; the Six Nations is a s ...

unbeaten, the All Blacks embarked upon a further three-match series in South Africa. The 1996 tour of South Africa was the first series win by a New Zealand side in South Africa. 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

in the NPC and the

in the new

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 ...

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 92nd and final test appearance on 29 November 1997 as a substitute in the 42–7 victory against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. Fitzpatrick was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to rugby, in the

1997 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1997 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

Honours

;

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 ...

1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 *

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challeng ...

1995, 1996 ;

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

Super Rugby 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 ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

;

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 ...

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997 * Tri Nations

series victory 1993 * International record for most consecutive test matches (63 successive Tests between 1986 & 1996.) * International team record for most consecutive tests without defeat (23 test matches between 1987 and 1990)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzpatrick, Sean 1963 births New Zealand international rugby union players Auckland rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees Living people Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand people of Croatian descent New Zealand people of Irish descent Rugby union players from Auckland Rugby union hookers People educated at Sacred Heart College, Auckland 1987 Rugby World Cup players 1991 Rugby World Cup players 1995 Rugby World Cup players