Ross Filipo, a lean, athletic lock from the famed Petone club, provided a striking illustration of some of the changes brought to the rugby landscape by professionalism, for his career at the highest level was something which in the amateur days would have been unthinkable.

The bulk of Filipo’s provincial rugby was with his home union. But his entire participation at Super 12/14 level was with the Canterbury-based Crusaders.

Filipo was marked as a good prospect in his teenage years and in 1997 he made the national secondary schools squad from the Hutt Valley High School first XV. However, it took him a while to establish himself as a regular A representative, a reflection of the fact there may have been some early debate as to his best playing position.

His mobility and fondness for the loose also made him seem a likely candidate to play either as blindside flanker or even No 8.

But it was a lock that he entered first class rugby with seven games for Marlborough in the 2001 NPC second division. In 2002, though he was in the Hurricanes’ development squad, the best he could manage were two matches for a Wellington XV in early season practice matches.

Not until he was 24 in 2003 did Filipo gain an A team starting position and he made the most of his chances to gain a place in the draft with the Crusaders for the 2004 Super 12. Filipo continued with the Crusaders until the 2009 season, by which time had played 45 times for the franchise and been involved in three championship winning teams, in 2005, 06 and 08.

Filipo became highly regarded in the hard-nosed Crusaders environment, a notable achievement considering that during his time there the Crusaders also had available several All Black locks, Chris Jack, Norman Maxwell, Kevin O’Neill, even Ali Williams for one season and latterly, Isaac Ross.

His Maori ancestry gained him a place in New Zealand Maori sides, the highlight being in the line-up which gained a celebrated win over the British and Irish Lions at Hamilton in 2005. In 2007, when he was in the Junior All Blacks, injuries to some of the leading locks like Ali Williams and Kevin Robinson led to a surprise call-up to the national squad.

He made his test debut against Canada in Hamilton and appeared from the bench for that year’s tri-nations tests against South Africa at Durban and Australia in Melbourne. In 2008 he was in the expanded squad for the short end-of-year tour, taking the field for the last 15 minutes of the international against Scotland and playing the midweek match against Munster.

Filipo played the last of his 49 games for Wellington in 2008, scoring a try in the Ranfurly Shield win over Auckland. At the end of the 2009 Super 14 he joined the French club, Bayonne, having played 116 New Zealand first class games.

Profile by Lindsay Knight
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Ross Ami Filipo

BORN

Saturday, 14 April 1979 in Wellington

AGE

31

PHYSICAL

1.98m, 115kg

POSITION

Lock

LAST SCHOOL

Hutt Valley High

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Petone

PROVINCE

Wellington

SUPER 14 TEAM

Crusaders

RUGBY NICKNAME

Floss

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Saturday, 16 June 2007
v Canada at Hamilton
aged 28 years, 63 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 16 June 2007
v Canada at Hamilton
aged 28 years, 63 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 8 November 2008
v Scotland at Edinburgh
aged 29 years, 208 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

4 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

1 (0 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

5 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

0pts

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

0pts

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

0pts

ALL BLACK NUMBER

1070

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

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

2007

 16 Jun vs Canada at Hamilton 64-13  

 23 Jun vs South Africa at Durban 26-21 (+) 

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

2008

 8 Nov vs Scotland at Edinburgh 32-6 (+) 

 18 Nov vs Munster at Limerick 18-16 (-) 

Filipo did not score any points for the All Blacks.

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Australia

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

Canada

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Scotland

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

South Africa

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Totals

4

3

0

1

0

0

0

0

0