Blair Larsen was a tall lock or blindside flanker who had a natural ball winning ability in the lineout and a surprising amount of athleticism and flexibility in the open. But he was perhaps unfortunate in that he fell between two stools as a player.

He was not quite big and powerful enough to be a truly great international lock and lacked some of the agility of his rivals for the backrow positions, the likes of Jamie Joseph, Mike Brewer and in latter years, Michael Jones.

Larsen had been a late developer physically and a perception he was a stripling saw him struggle to make even his club's first side, leading to a transfer from Northcote to Takapuna.

He did not make the North Harbour representative side until 1991. But his potential had been noted before that and in 1990, while only in his union's colts side, he was in the New Zealand colts locking with the later England and British Lions captain Martin Johnson.

Larsen had an impressive All Black trial in Napier in early 1992 and won his way into the squad for the centenary tests against the World XV and then the first test against Ireland in Dunedin.

But he was replaced for the second test against Ireland in Wellington by Robin Brooke and that signalled the end of Larsen's hopes for a more permanent test spot. For Brooke quickly formed an outstanding combination with the leading lineout exponent, Ian Jones.

The Brooke-Jones pairing meant Larsen could not make the test side on the 1992 tour of Australia and South Africa and while he was again in the squad he was not chosen for any of the tests on the 1993 tour of England and Scotland.

But injuries to key players enabled him to return as a blindside flanker for the 1994 tests against South Africa and France and he proved a useful backup player, especially during the 1995 World Cup, when both the Brookes, Robin and Zinzan, were injured.

At the World Cup he played in the pool games as a lock against Ireland, Wales and Japan and came on as a late replacement in the semifinal against England.

On the tour later in 1995 he made six appearances, including as a blindside flanker in the test against Italy and in the first test loss to France.

In 1996 John Hart had taken over from Laurie Mains as All Black coach but Larsen's versatility and ability to cover lock and the backrow made him a useful reserve. He came on as a substitute for one of the domestic tests against Scotland and also as a substitute in one of the tests in South Africa to bring his career tally to 17.

But by then he was mainly a midweek player and in 1997 he disappeared from the national pecking order, falling behind players of a similar type like Charles Riechelmann and Todd Blackadder.

Larsen, known by the nickname "Lamby," made the last of his 23 Super 12 appearances for the Chiefs in 1998. But that season the veteran of 82 matches for North Harbour could not make their representative side for the NPC and finished out the year with eight matches for Northland.

Not wanted for the 1999 Super 12, Larsen, who had taken early retirement from the police force, then joined the exodus overseas, spending the next three years in Japan playing for Kobe Steel. Back in New Zealand in 2003 he has regained his place in the North Harbour NPC squad.

Profile by Lindsay Knight
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Blair Peter Larsen

BORN

Monday, 20 January 1969 in Takapuna

AGE

41

PHYSICAL

1.98m, 107kg

POSITION

Lock and Flanker

LAST SCHOOL

Rosmini College

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Takapuna

PROVINCE

North Harbour

RUGBY NICKNAME

Lammy

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Wednesday, 22 April 1992
v World XV at Wellington
aged 23 years, 93 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Wednesday, 22 April 1992
v World XV at Wellington
aged 23 years, 93 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 24 August 1996
v South Africa at Pretoria
aged 27 years, 217 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

17 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

23 (0 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

40 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

4pts (1t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

10pts (2t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

14pts (3t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

921

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

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1992

 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  

 24 Jun vs South Australian Invitation XV at Adelaide 48-18  

 1 Jul vs A.C.T. at Canberra 45-13  

 8 Jul vs Victorian Invitation XV at Melbourne 53-3  

 15 Jul vs Queensland B at Cairns 32-13  

 22 Jul vs Sydney at Sydney 17-40  

 5 Aug vs Orange Free State at Bloemfontein 33-14  

 10 Aug vs Central Unions at Witbank 39-6  

1993

 2 Nov vs England North at Liverpool 27-21  

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

 10 Nov vs South of Scotland at Galashiels 84-5  

 13 Nov vs Scotland 'A' at Glasgow 20-9 (+) 

 16 Nov vs Scottish Development XV at Edinburgh 31-12  

 23 Nov vs England Emerging Players at Gloucester 30-19  

 30 Nov vs Combined Services at Plymouth 13-3  

 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

 27 May vs Ireland at Johannesburg 43-19  

 31 May vs Wales at Johannesburg 34-9  

 4 Jun vs Japan at Bloemfontein 145-17 (-) 

 18 Jun vs England at Cape Town 45-29 (+) 

 25 Oct vs Italy 'A' at Catania 51-21  

 28 Oct vs Italy at Bologna 70-6  

 4 Nov vs Languedoc-Roussillon at Beziers 30-9  

 7 Nov vs Cote Basque-Landes at Bayonne 47-20  

 11 Nov vs France at Toulouse 15-22  

 14 Nov vs French Selection at Nancy 55-17 (+) 

1996

 22 Jun vs Scotland at Auckland 36-12 (+) 

 6 Aug vs Boland Invitation XV at Worcester 32-21 (-) 

 13 Aug vs Eastern Province at Port Elizabeth 31-23  

 20 Aug vs Western Transvaal at Potchefstroom 31-0  

 24 Aug vs South Africa at Pretoria 33-26 (+) 

 27 Aug vs Griqualand West at Kimberley 18-18  

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs World XV, 22 Apr 1992

1

-

-

-

4

vs South Australian Invitation XV, 24 Jun 1992

1

-

-

-

5

vs Boland Invitation XV, 6 Aug 1996

1

-

-

-

5

Totals

3

0

0

0

14

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Australia

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

England

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

France

3

-

-

3

-

-

-

-

-

Ireland

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Italy

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Japan

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Scotland

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

South Africa

4

3

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

Wales

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

World XV

2

2

-

-

1

-

-

-

4

Totals

17

12

1

4

1

0

0

0

4