Simon Culhane (born 10 March 1968 in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southlan ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

) is a former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who won six

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

playing at fly-half for the New Zealand rugby union side (the All Blacks). Culhane made his international test debut at the age of 27 on 4 June 1995 during the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup (), was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in ...

. The match, against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

was won 145–17 and is the largest winning margin for an All Blacks side. Culhane amassed 45 points during his debut, a world record for first class test rugby that still stands today, slotting 20 of 21 conversion attempts and scoring a try. He lost his place in the starting line-up for the next match to first-choice

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 ...

. He then went on to win just five more caps. He currently coaches Rugby Southland in the New Zealand National Provincial Championship. He also played cricket for Southland in the Hawke Cup.

References

External links

Simon Culhane on Sporting Heroes
* 1968 births Cambridge R.U.F.C. players Living people New Zealand international rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Southland rugby union players Otago rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players Rugby union players from Invercargill People educated at Aurora College (Invercargill) 1995 Rugby World Cup players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in England New Zealand rugby union players 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1960s-stub