The latest Brooke off the rugby production line is qualified for England and has just signed his first contract
As Zinzan Brooke prepares for the 25th anniversary of the most remarkable drop goal ever scored at a Rugby World Cup, the legendary New Zealand No8 finally has some good news for the England team he helped thrash 45-29 with Jonah Lomu grabbing four tries in Cape Town.
That semi-final defeat on June 18, 1995 was a crushing blow for England and the fact Brooke kicked a 45m right foot drop goal from close to the touchline only increased the discomfort being felt by the players who had repeatedly failed to stop the rampaging Lomu.
While it may not redress the balance, Brooke has revealed that Lucas, the eldest of his six children, has signed a two-year academy contract with Gallagher Premiership London Irish and he is fully England qualified with the 18-year-old having already made his mark as a member of the successful Wellington College first XV. “Lucas has signed a two-year contract with London Irish and has gone there with four or five of his mates from Wellington College,” explained Brooke who has lived in England for 23 years.
“Lucas was born here in England and doesn’t know New Zealand at all. My grand-parents were English and my wife’s parents are English and a lot of people have asked me what would I do. This is home and if the kids get the opportunity to play for England that is their choice. It’s a big call but why would you stop your kid just because it’s England – it’s his call.
“The official date for Lucas to start at Irish was mid-July but it may not be until August because of the current situation and he is chomping at the bit. Lucas plays back row and also hooker because I said to him when I was coaching him at Windsor RFC from the age of five to when he went to Wellington, to have this up your sleeve because I don’t know how tall and big you are going to be. I told him not to wipe out the idea of hooker and he was like “ hooker?” and I said that he should look at the modern day hooker as another loose forward with all the skills. He has nice passing so he just needed to work on throwing the ball into the line out so he hooks as well.”
Zinzan and brother Robin Brooke played a record 39 tests together with the All Blacks giving the family a special place in New Zealand rugby folklore while Marty, their other sibling, played for Auckland and Southland.
“Robin’s children are water polo players and swimmers and our parents didn’t push us at anything and we just took up sports:” added Brooke “You find your own pathway and I was quite handy at badminton and I loved playing cricket. Glaringly obvious, rugby was the one I chose through the age groups and then made the Rugby World Cup squad in 1987.
“I try not to mention the Brooke name (in terms of rugby) because I don’t want to put any pressure on Lucas. I told him not to feel any pressure because I played and that he should do his best, cut his own cloth and not worry about anything. I told him if he wants to go all the way then it is a hard journey but when you are on a good run it is very enjoyable. I love watching him.”
Brooke, 55, made a try-scoring debut for New Zealand against Argentina in the 1987 World Cup and collected a winners’ medal which he gave to his parents. They also have the medal he collected after losing to South Africa in the 1995 final in Johannesburg made famous by the iconic picture of President Nelson Mandela handing over the trophy to Springbok captain Francois Pienaar with both men wearing green No6 jerseys.
In a special interview for RugbyPass Ed Griffiths, the former SA RFU chief executive, maintains that the sickness that affected a number of the All Blacks before and during the final was to food poisoning from seafood not the actions of an alleged waitress called Suzie who it was claimed had intentionally made the opposition ill. Brooke denies the players had all been eating seafood and revealed there were other problems to deal with including having car alarms going off throughout the night after the All Blacks had been given rooms right next to the hotel car park.
Brooke said: ”I didn’t eat a load of seafood before the final and I think it was the Thursday lunch that was the problem after training. I was ill but it wasn’t prawns and crayfish and there were more than five or six who were sick. South Africa were a good side and politically it probably happened for the right reasons. Normally at the hotel we didn’t have rooms near the car park and the car alarms were going off on the hour for three hours during the night – it was nuts. We were put I rooms right next to the car park!
“That was a bloody good All Blacks team but it wasn’t to be on that day.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Bold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to comments