Quite apart from his quality as a player Frank Bunce stands out among All Blacks as being of royal descent. He is the direct descendant of George Rex, one of three sons borne to King George III by Hannah Lightfoot, a Yorkshire draper, before the King's marriage to Queen Charlotte. He is one of several hundred descendants living in New Zealand and Niue Island.

Born in Auckland and educated at Mangere College Bunce, playing for the Manukau club, took a long time to emerge from club rugby. He made solitary appearances for Auckland 'B' in 1984 and Auckland in 1986, but did enough to be selected for the North Island the latter year in what proved to be the last of the regular inter-island fixtures. He remained with Auckland until 1990, though never able to become a first choice selection, but received an All Black trial in 1988.

His career took off when he moved to North Harbour in 1991. Though primarily of Niuean ancestry he was selected for Western Samoa, toured New Zealand and then performed impressively for them at the 1991 World Cup. New All Black coach Laurie Mains included Bunce, now 30 years of age, in his squad for the 1992 NZRFU centennial series and after one match at second five eight he became the regular All Black centre until 1997. He and North Harbour teammate Walter Little formed a formidable midfield combination during that period, arguably the best in the world. Bunce missed just one test during that time, against Japan at the 1995 World Cup. He also appeared for New Zealand at Sevens, at the first Sevens World Cup in 1993.

In all Frank Bunce played 69 matches for New Zealand, 55 of them tests. Inevitably he is compared with another late blooming All Black centre in Joe Stanley with his ability to read a game and make play for his outsides. Perhaps as a result of a background of working on Auckland rubbish carts, one of Bunce's assets was his strength in the tackle, either giving or receiving. A subtle as well as a strong runner he scored 20 test tries.

After an injury affected Super 12 season in 1998 Bunce, now aged 36, was dropped from All Black plans when, after going to France to explore a contract with a French club, he failed to return in time to prove his fitness to the selectors.

Nearly 36 when he played his last test Frank Bunce is the second oldest All Black test player, and the oldest back. He is also the most capped test centre.

Profile by Bob Luxford
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Frank Eneri Bunce

BORN

Sunday, 4 February 1962 in Auckland

AGE

48

PHYSICAL

1.80m, 85kg

POSITION

Centre three-quarter and second five-eighth

LAST SCHOOL

Mangere College

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Helensville

PROVINCE

North Harbour

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Saturday, 18 April 1992
v World XV at Christchurch
aged 30 years, 74 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 18 April 1992
v World XV at Christchurch
aged 30 years, 74 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 6 December 1997
v England at London
aged 35 years, 305 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

55 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

14 (1 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

69 (1 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

96pts (20t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

35pts (7t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

131pts (27t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

915

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

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1992

 18 Apr vs World XV at Christchurch 14-28  

 22 Apr vs World XV at Wellington 54-26  

 25 Apr vs World XV at Auckland 26-15  

 30 May vs Ireland at Dunedin 24-21  

 6 Jun vs Ireland at Wellington 59-6  

 21 Jun vs Western Australia at Perth 80-0  

 28 Jun vs N.S.W. at Sydney 41-9 (-) 

 4 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 15-16  

 12 Jul vs Queensland at Brisbane 26-19  

 19 Jul vs Australia at Brisbane 17-19  

 25 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 26-23  

 1 Aug vs Natal at Durban 43-25  

 5 Aug vs Orange Free State at Bloemfontein 33-14  

 8 Aug vs Junior South Africa at Pretoria 25-10  

 15 Aug vs South Africa at Johannesburg 27-24  

1993

 12 Jun vs British & Irish Lions at Christchurch 20-18  

 26 Jun vs British & Irish Lions at Wellington 7-20  

 3 Jul vs British & Irish Lions at Auckland 30-13  

 17 Jul vs Australia at Dunedin 25-10  

 31 Jul vs Samoa at Auckland 35-13  

 23 Oct vs London & SE Division at London 39-12  

 30 Oct vs England South West at Redruth 19-15  

 7 Nov vs England 'A' at Gateshead 26-12  

 13 Nov vs Scotland 'A' at Glasgow 20-9  

 20 Nov vs Scotland at Edinburgh 51-15  

 27 Nov vs England at London 9-15  

 4 Dec vs Barbarians at Cardiff 25-12  

1994

 26 Jun vs France at Christchurch 8-22  

 3 Jul vs France at Auckland 20-23  

 9 Jul vs South Africa at Dunedin 22-14  

 23 Jul vs South Africa at Wellington 13-9 (-) 

 6 Aug vs South Africa at Auckland 18-18  

 17 Aug vs Australia at Sydney 16-20  

1995

 22 Apr vs Canada at Auckland 73-7  

 27 May vs Ireland at Johannesburg 43-19  

 31 May vs Wales at Johannesburg 34-9  

 11 Jun vs Scotland at Pretoria 48-30  

 18 Jun vs England at Cape Town 45-29  

 24 Jun vs South Africa at Johannesburg 12-15  

 22 Jul vs Australia at Auckland 28-16  

 29 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 34-23  

 25 Oct vs Italy 'A' at Catania 51-21  (Captain)

 28 Oct vs Italy at Bologna 70-6  

 4 Nov vs Languedoc-Roussillon at Beziers 30-9  

 11 Nov vs France at Toulouse 15-22  

 18 Nov vs France at Paris 37-12  

1996

 7 Jun vs Samoa at Napier 51-10  

 15 Jun vs Scotland at Dunedin 62-31  

 22 Jun vs Scotland at Auckland 36-12  

 6 Jul vs Australia at Wellington 43-6  

 20 Jul vs South Africa at Christchurch 15-11  

 27 Jul vs Australia at Brisbane 32-25  

 10 Aug vs South Africa at Cape Town 29-18  

 17 Aug vs South Africa at Durban 23-19  

 24 Aug vs South Africa at Pretoria 33-26  

 31 Aug vs South Africa at Johannesburg 22-32  

1997

 14 Jun vs Fiji at Albany 71-5  

 21 Jun vs Argentina at Wellington 93-8  

 28 Jun vs Argentina at Hamilton 62-10 (-) 

 5 Jul vs Australia at Christchurch 30-13  

 19 Jul vs South Africa at Johannesburg 35-32  

 26 Jul vs Australia at Melbourne 33-18  

 9 Aug vs South Africa at Auckland 55-35  

 16 Aug vs Australia at Dunedin 36-24  

 8 Nov vs Llanelli at Llanelli 81-3  

 15 Nov vs Ireland at Dublin 63-15 (-) 

 22 Nov vs England at Manchester 25-8  

 29 Nov vs Wales at London 42-7  

 6 Dec vs England at London 26-26 (-) 

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs Ireland, 30 May 1992

2

-

-

-

8

vs Ireland, 6 Jun 1992

2

-

-

-

8

vs Western Australia, 21 Jun 1992

1

-

-

-

5

vs N.S.W., 28 Jun 1992

1

-

-

-

5

vs Australia, 4 Jul 1992

1

-

-

-

5

vs Queensland, 12 Jul 1992

1

-

-

-

5

vs Orange Free State, 5 Aug 1992

1

-

-

-

5

vs British & Irish Lions, 12 Jun 1993

1

-

-

-

5

vs British & Irish Lions, 3 Jul 1993

1

-

-

-

5

vs Australia, 17 Jul 1993

1

-

-

-

5

vs Scotland, 20 Nov 1993

1

-

-

-

5

vs France, 26 Jun 1994

1

-

-

-

5

vs Canada, 22 Apr 1995

2

-

-

-

10

vs Ireland, 27 May 1995

1

-

-

-

5

vs Scotland, 11 Jun 1995

1

-

-

-

5

vs Australia, 29 Jul 1995

2

-

-

-

10

vs Italy 'A', 25 Oct 1995

1

-

-

-

5

vs Languedoc-Roussillon, 4 Nov 1995

2

-

-

-

10

vs Australia, 27 Jul 1996

1

-

-

-

5

vs South Africa, 19 Jul 1997

2

-

-

-

10

vs Australia, 26 Jul 1997

1

-

-

-

5

Totals

27

0

0

0

131

NB: includes four tries at four points

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Argentina

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Australia

12

9

-

3

6

-

-

-

30

British & Irish Lions

3

2

-

1

2

-

-

-

10

Canada

1

1

-

-

2

-

-

-

10

England

4

2

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

Fiji

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

France

4

1

-

3

1

-

-

-

5

Ireland

4

4

-

-

5

-

-

-

21

Italy

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Samoa

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Scotland

4

4

-

-

2

-

-

-

10

South Africa

12

9

1

2

2

-

-

-

10

Wales

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

World XV

3

2

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

Totals

55

42

2

11

20

0

0

0

96