Throughout his rugby career Norman Michael Clifford Maxwell, totally committed on the field, often seemed a little “different”, more laidback than the usual perhaps. Somehow it seemed appropriate that though his career in national teams started in 1994 as late as 2005 his name was still being recorded in publications as Norman Maxwell Maxwell.

Then in 2004 he elected to miss the Super 12 to travel overseas and also to take a mental and physical break from the game. By this stage the wear and tear on his body was such that he was often replaced halfway through a game. It was unexpected behaviour from a professional rugby player that added to the impression that Maxwell was outside the norm.

Norm Maxwell was born at Rawene and attended Whangarei Boys High School from where he was selected for the New Zealand Secondary Schools team in 1994. He made his first class debut in impressive style the following year with 14 matches for Northland. The Rugby Almanack thought he “showed amazing maturity in a demanding position” and chose him as one of their “Five Promising Players”. There was further national representation, a short tour to Australia with the New Zealand Under 19 team. Inevitably comparisons were made between Maxwell (1.98m and 95kg in his early years) and another Northland lock of relatively slight build, All Black Ian Jones.

Not wanted by the Auckland Blues in the first year (1996) of the professional Super 12 competition Maxwell was picked up in the draft by the Canterbury Crusaders and though still only 20 was a regular starter for most of the competition. He followed with appearances for New Zealand Colts in a Southern Hemisphere Under 21 tournament and another strong season for Northland.

His progress continued in 1997 for the Crusaders, Northland, N Z Academy and N Z Maori and in 1998. In the latter season he transferred to Canterbury, played in an All Black trial and made three appearances for New Zealand “A”, against England, Tonga and Samoa, all indications he was steadily moving up the pecking order. His progress was helped by the Crusaders winning the 1998 Super 12 and Canterbury reaching the National championship final the same year.

After contributing to another Crusader’s Super 12 win in 1999 Norm Maxwell’s All Black debut came on 18 June 1999 against Samoa, and he marked it by scoring the opening try. He held his place throughout the season, ahead of the long serving Ian Jones and the powerful Royce Willis. New Zealand won the 1999 Tri-Nations but the season ended on a deep low after a shock loss to France (beaten 54-7 earlier in the season) in the World Cup semi final. That loss ended the All Black coaching career of John Hart but Maxwell retained his place in 2000 under new coach Wayne Smith. He started in seven of the available 10 tests, partnering new All Black captain Todd Blackadder.

He remained a first choice selection through 2001, though the Rugby Almanack thought he was “consistently good without quite achieving what we saw in previous years”. He was supplanted in the test side by Simon Maling for the latter part of the 2002 Tri Nations and did not go on that year’s end of season Northern Hemisphere tour. Nor did he appear for the All Blacks in 2003 but was able to play a full NPC season for Canterbury for the first time in six seasons.

Maxwell missed the 2004 Super 12 while on his OE but was back for the NPC, starting in seven matches and helping Canterbury to win the 1st Division title. He was sometimes substituted relatively early in games, partly to manage injury niggles and also because Canterbury, with Maxwell plus All Blacks Chris Jack and Brad Thorn had an abundance of locking talent. He, along with veteran hooker Anton Oliver, was recalled to the All Blacks for the end of season European tour. The two, who had both played in the shattering 1999 World Cup semi final loss to France, had the huge satisfaction of being part of a very impressive 45-6 demolition of France. Both were substituted during the match but were still on the field when, after their scrum had been put under huge pressure, the French had no more fit props and the rest of the match was played with Golden Oldies scrums.

After four matches for the Crusaders in 2005 Maxwell left New Zealand to take up a contract with Ricoh in Japan. His impressive career finished with 36 matches (all tests) for the All Blacks, 69 appearances for the Crusaders, 39 for Canterbury and 20 for Northland. He also played for the British Barbarians against South Africa in Cardiff in 1999 and was awarded the Tom French Cup for the Maori Player of the Year, also in 1999. He played in 2nd Division NPC finals in each of his three years with Northland, finally breaking through for a win in 1997. After moving to Christchurch he enjoyed considerable success, being part of Crusaders teams that won the Super 12 in 1998,1999,2000,2002 and 2005. With Canterbury he was a member of the team that lifted the Ranfurly Shield off Waikato in 2000, starting a tenure that lasted until 2004, and won the NPC 1st Division title in 2001 and 2004.

Profile by Bob Luxford
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Norman Michael Clifford Maxwell

BORN

Friday, 5 March 1976 in Rawene

AGE

34

PHYSICAL

1.98m, 106kg

POSITION

Lock

LAST SCHOOL

Whangarei Boys' High

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Linwood

PROVINCE

Canterbury

SUPER 14 TEAM

Crusaders

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Friday, 18 June 1999
v Samoa at Albany
aged 23 years, 105 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Friday, 18 June 1999
v Samoa at Albany
aged 23 years, 105 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 27 November 2004
v France at Paris
aged 28 years, 267 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

36 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

0 (0 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

36 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

25pts (5t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

0pts

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

25pts (5t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

986

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

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1999

 18 Jun vs Samoa at Albany 71-13  

 26 Jun vs France at Wellington 54-7 (-) 

 10 Jul vs South Africa at Dunedin 28-0  

 24 Jul vs Australia at Auckland 34-15  

 7 Aug vs South Africa at Pretoria 34-18  

 28 Aug vs Australia at Sydney 7-28 (-) 

 3 Oct vs Tonga at Bristol 45-9 (-) 

 9 Oct vs England at London 30-16  

 24 Oct vs Scotland at Edinburgh 30-18 (-) 

 31 Oct vs France at London 31-43  

 4 Nov vs South Africa at Cardiff 18-22  

2000

 24 Jun vs Scotland at Dunedin 69-20 (-) 

 1 Jul vs Scotland at Auckland 48-14 (-) 

 15 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 39-35 (-) 

 22 Jul vs South Africa at Christchurch 25-12 (+) 

 5 Aug vs Australia at Wellington 23-24  

 19 Aug vs South Africa at Johannesburg 40-46 (-) 

 11 Nov vs France at Paris 39-26 (-) 

 18 Nov vs France at Marseille 33-42 (-) 

 25 Nov vs Italy at Genova 56-19 (+) 

2001

 16 Jun vs Samoa at Albany 50-6  

 23 Jun vs Argentina at Christchurch 67-19  

 30 Jun vs France at Wellington 37-12  

 21 Jul vs South Africa at Cape Town 12-3 (-) 

 11 Aug vs Australia at Dunedin 15-23 (-) 

 25 Aug vs South Africa at Auckland 26-15  

 1 Sep vs Australia at Sydney 26-29  

 17 Nov vs Ireland at Dublin 40-29  

 24 Nov vs Scotland at Edinburgh 37-6  

 1 Dec vs Argentina at Buenos Aires 24-20  

2002

 8 Jun vs Italy at Hamilton 64-10  

 15 Jun vs Ireland at Dunedin 15-6  

 22 Jun vs Ireland at Auckland 40-8  

 29 Jun vs Fiji at Wellington 68-18  

2004

 13 Nov vs Italy at Rome 59-10 (-) 

 27 Nov vs France at Paris 45-6 (-) 

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs Samoa, 18 Jun 1999

1

-

-

-

5

vs Tonga, 3 Oct 1999

1

-

-

-

5

vs Samoa, 16 Jun 2001

1

-

-

-

5

vs Fiji, 29 Jun 2002

2

-

-

-

10

Totals

5

0

0

0

25

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Argentina

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Australia

6

2

-

4

-

-

-

-

-

England

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Fiji

1

1

-

-

2

-

-

-

10

France

6

4

-

2

-

-

-

-

-

Ireland

3

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Italy

3

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Samoa

2

2

-

-

2

-

-

-

10

Scotland

4

4

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

South Africa

7

5

-

2

-

-

-

-

-

Tonga

1

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

5

Totals

36

28

0

8

5

0

0

0

25