Chris Masoe’s international record for the All Blacks offers perhaps the best and most striking illustration of the somewhat frustrating pattern of his career.

For while Masoe appeared in 20 tests half of them were from the reserves bench, and of the 10 he started he was shuffled around in all three of the back-row positions, confusing himself as much as anyone.

Masoe all too often proved to be a victim of his own versatility. At 1.83m he was probably better suited by his height to being an open-side flanker, but in that role he never quite had the skill at the tackle-ball breakdown of a Richie McCaw, or even Marty Holah or Daniel Braid.

His powerful 106 kg frame meant he was always an effective line-breaker and ball carrier but his relative lack of height didn’t always suit the six or eight positions, either. He was a difficult player to overlook, though, and his qualities made him invaluable as an impact player from the bench.

And though he never quite made it as an international force in the manner of his contemporaries McCaw, Jerry Collins and Rodney So’oialo, he formed with the latter two an especially formidable back row for the Hurricanes in the Super 12/14.

Samoan-born, Masoe came to New Zealand in his teens, making his first impact for Wanganui in the old NPC second division and such was his obvious potential he was picked for the national divisional side in 2000.

Inevitably, he was soon picked up by a first division union, moving in 2001 to the neighbouring Taranaki side, though, as a pointer to the rest of his career, many of his early appearances for Taranaki were as a subsititute.

But by 2003 he had advanced to the Hurricanes for the Super 12, really coming into his own in the 2005 season, when he played twice for the Junior All Blacks and then catapulted himself into All Black reckoning with a stunning exhibition of raw power when Taranaki had an upset NPC win over Auckland.

That put him on the end-of-season Grand Slam tour of Britain and Ireland when he appeared on the open-side flank in the wins over Wales and England. In 2006, against the competition of McCaw, he only once appeared in the seven jersey, his other five appearances either being at six or eight, usually as a substitute for Collins or So’oialo.

In the 2007 season Masoe appeared in five of the early season and tri-nations tests and in all five of the World Cup matches. But once again he was shuffled around, one who felt the full brunt of the controversial rotation process. He, in particular, was one who came on for the final few minutes when games had either been lost, as in the France quarter-final when he played the last 15 minutes, or had lost shape.

Masoe was with Wellington for the 2006-07 seasons, but All Black commitments meant he made only half a dozen appearances. He was in excellent form in 2008, when the Hurricanes made the Super 14 semi-finals, bringing his appearances for the franchise to 63.

When McCaw injured an ankle he was recalled briefly to the All Blacks, but never made an appearance. Before the start of the 2008 Air New Zealand Cup, having made 148 first class appearances, he confirmed a move off-shore to Castres in France.

Profile by Lindsay Knight
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Matemini Christopher Masoe

BORN

Tuesday, 15 May 1979 in Savai’i

AGE

31

PHYSICAL

1.83m, 106kg

POSITION

Loose Forward

LAST SCHOOL

Wanganui City College

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Inglewood

PROVINCES

Taranaki, Wellington

SUPER 14 TEAM

Hurricanes

RUGBY NICKNAME

Mussy

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Saturday, 5 November 2005
v Wales at Cardiff
aged 26 years, 174 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 5 November 2005
v Wales at Cardiff
aged 26 years, 174 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 6 October 2007
v France at Cardiff
aged 28 years, 144 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

20 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

0 (0 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

20 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

15pts (3t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

0pts

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

15pts (3t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

1059

The All Black Games that Masoe played.
(+) = substitute; (-) = replaced

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

2005

 5 Nov vs Wales at Cardiff 41-3 (-) 

 19 Nov vs England at London 23-19  

2006

 24 Jun vs Argentina at Buenos Aires 25-19  

 8 Jul vs Australia at Christchurch 32-12 (+) 

 22 Jul vs South Africa at Wellington 35-17 (+) 

 29 Jul vs Australia at Brisbane 13-9 (+) 

 19 Aug vs Australia at Auckland 34-27 (+) 

 26 Aug vs South Africa at Pretoria 45-26 (-) 

 5 Nov vs England at London 41-20  

 18 Nov vs France at Paris 23-11 (+) 

2007

 2 Jun vs France at Auckland 42-11  

 9 Jun vs France at Wellington 61-10 (+) 

 16 Jun vs Canada at Hamilton 64-13  

 30 Jun vs Australia at Melbourne 15-20 (+) 

 14 Jul vs South Africa at Christchurch 33-6 (+) 

 8 Sep vs Italy at Marseille 76-14 (+) 

 15 Sep vs Portugal at Lyon 108-13  

 23 Sep vs Scotland at Edinburgh 40-0  

 29 Sep vs Romania at Toulouse 85-8 (-) 

 6 Oct vs France at Cardiff 18-20 (+) 

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs Canada, 16 Jun 2007

1

-

-

-

5

vs Portugal, 15 Sep 2007

1

-

-

-

5

vs Romania, 29 Sep 2007

1

-

-

-

5

Totals

3

0

0

0

15

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Argentina

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Australia

4

3

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

Canada

1

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

5

England

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

France

4

3

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

Italy

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Portugal

1

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

5

Romania

1

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

5

Scotland

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

South Africa

3

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Wales

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Totals

20

18

0

2

3

0

0

0

15