Though his career clashed with that of another outstanding first five eighths Andrew Mehrtens, Carlos Spencer achieved many notable feats for Auckland, the Blues at Super 12 level and for the All Blacks.

Both he and Mehrtens departed for lucrative British contracts at the end of the 2005 Super 12 and while for more than a decade there was also debate as to their respective merits there was general agreement they each ranked among New Zealand’s best five or six of all time in the position.

From the time he made age group representative sides in Horowhenua it was clear Spencer had prodigious talent. At 16, while still at Waiopehu College in Levin, he entered first class representative rugby in the 1992 NPC third division.

A year later, aged only 17, he gave further glimpses of his rare promise when in an early season Ranfurly Shield challenge he scored a spectacular solo try in Horowhenua-Kapiti’s defeat by Auckland.

Graham Henry was coaching Auckland at the time and was clearly taken by the youngster’s ability. It was hardly a coincidence that the following year Spencer moved to Auckland.

While it took the youngster some time to adjust to the big city pace of Auckland, he soon became a regular feature of Auckland representative sides in succession to Grant Fox. In 1994 he also came into competitition with Mehrtens for the first time when both were included in the New Zealand Colts squad, with Spencer being preferred for the main games.

For the rest of the 1990s and into the early 2000s they were teammates in many an All Black squad, though their number of appearances together were few. Spencer actually came into the All Blacks for the first time when he replaced an injured Mehrtens on the end of season 1995 tour of France and Italy.

Spencer also went in the expanded squad which toured South Africa in 1996, though with Simon Culhane then taking precedence as Mehrtens’ deputy it was not until 1997, with Mehrtens again injured, that Spencer made his test debut.

This was against Argentina at Wellington’s Athletic Park where Spencer marked his debut by scoring 33 points. Spencer held the test position for most of the 1997 domestic tests but lost out to Mehrtens on the end of year tour of Britain. The pair then shared the test role for much of an unhappy 1998 season, during which there was criticism of coach John Hart for, among other things, his chopping and changing of his two first fives.

Spencer spent most of 1999 with the New Zealand A team but was included in the World Cup squad. However, a training injury meant he was forced out of the tournament without making an appearance.

In the next three seasons, apart from brief appearances on the end of season tours to the Northern Hemisphere in 2000 and 2002, Spencer struggled behind Mehrtens and Tony Brown for All Black chances.

But in 2003 he finally secured the number one slot and he played in all 14 tests that year, both domestically and then in the World Cup in Australia where he played well for the most part but had the ill fortune to throw the pass from which the Wallabies secured the interception and the try in an upset semifinal win.

Spencer kept his place for most of 2004 but along with Mehrtens was overlooked for the end of the year tour with the selection panel by now headed by Henry deciding the man for the future was Daniel Carter.

After coming on as a replacement early in the second spell Spencer set up the winning try for New Zealand Maori in their match against the Lions in 2005. This was an appropriate farewell from New Zealand rugby for Spencer as the Maori had been one of his most cherished teams. While battling for an All Black place in 2001-2002 appearances for the Maori against top sides like the Wallabies kept his international profile.

Several of these appearances were at fullback where he frequently played also for Auckland and the Blues and where he usually played with considerable accomplishment. In his 35 tests Spencer scored 291 points, including 14 tries. His 93 games for Auckland brought him 515 points and in 96 Super 12 games he scored 608 points.

But despite this record, kicking, both at goal and in general play, was a Spencer weakness and he lacked some of Mehrtens’ tactical ability to read and control a game. But as an attacker with a flair for the unorthodox and the unexpected Spencer had few peers. A measure of his attacking ability is shown by the fact that unusually for an inside back he scored more than 100 tries in New Zealand first class rugby. Five of these were in the 1996 NPC semifinal for Auckland against Otago.

Spencer achieved many honours with Auckland and the Blues: with Auckland he was in sides which won the Ranfurly Shield in 1995 and 1996 and was in NPC first division championship winning sides in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 2002. He was in the Blues sides which were Super 12 champions in 1996-97 and again in 2003.

Profile by Lindsay Knight
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Carlos James Spencer

BORN

Tuesday, 14 October 1975 in Levin

AGE

34

PHYSICAL

1.84m, 95kg

POSITION

First five-eighth

LAST SCHOOL

Waiopehu College

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Ponsonby

PROVINCE

Auckland

SUPER 14 TEAM

Blues

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Saturday, 4 November 1995
v Languedoc-Roussillon at Beziers
aged 20 years, 21 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 21 June 1997
v Argentina at Wellington
aged 21 years, 250 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 7 August 2004
v Australia at Sydney
aged 28 years, 298 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

35 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

9 (0 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

44 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

291pts (14t, 49c, 41p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

92pts (2t, 23c, 12p, 0dg, 0m)

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

383pts (16t, 72c, 53p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

951

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

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1995

 4 Nov vs Languedoc-Roussillon at Beziers 30-9 (+) 

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

 14 Nov vs French Selection at Nancy 55-17  

1996

 13 Aug vs Eastern Province at Port Elizabeth 31-23  

 20 Aug vs Western Transvaal at Potchefstroom 31-0  

1997

 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  

 11 Nov vs Wales 'A' at Pontypridd 51-8  

 18 Nov vs Emerging England at Huddersfield 59-22  

 25 Nov vs English Rugby Partnership XV at Bristol 18-11  

 2 Dec vs England 'A' at Leicester 30-19  

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

1998

 27 Jun vs England at Auckland 40-10 (+) 

 11 Jul vs Australia at Melbourne 16-24 (+) 

 25 Jul vs South Africa at Wellington 3-13 (-) 

 29 Aug vs Australia at Sydney 14-19 (+) 

2000

 11 Nov vs France at Paris 39-26 (+) 

 25 Nov vs Italy at Genova 56-19  

2002

 9 Nov vs England at London 28-31 (-) 

2003

 14 Jun vs England at Wellington 13-15  

 21 Jun vs Wales at Hamilton 55-3  

 28 Jun vs France at Christchurch 31-23  

 19 Jul vs South Africa at Pretoria 52-16  

 26 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 50-21 (-) 

 9 Aug vs South Africa at Dunedin 19-11  

 16 Aug vs Australia at Auckland 21-17  

 11 Oct vs Italy at Melbourne 70-7  

 17 Oct vs Canada at Melbourne 68-6  

 24 Oct vs Tonga at Brisbane 91-7  

 2 Nov vs Wales at Sydney 53-37  

 8 Nov vs South Africa at Melbourne 29-9  

 15 Nov vs Australia at Sydney 10-22  

 20 Nov vs France at Sydney 40-13  

2004

 12 Jun vs England at Dunedin 36-3  

 19 Jun vs England at Auckland 36-12  

 10 Jul vs Pacific Islanders at Albany 41-26  

 17 Jul vs Australia at Wellington 16-7  

 24 Jul vs South Africa at Christchurch 23-21  

 7 Aug vs Australia at Sydney 18-23 (-) 

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs Cote Basque-Landes, 7 Nov 1995

-

4

3

-

17

vs French Selection, 14 Nov 1995

-

6

1

-

15

vs Western Transvaal, 20 Aug 1996

1

-

-

-

5

vs Argentina, 21 Jun 1997

2

10

1

-

33

vs Argentina, 28 Jun 1997

1

6

1

-

20

vs Australia, 5 Jul 1997

-

2

2

-

10

vs South Africa, 19 Jul 1997

1

3

3

-

20

vs Australia, 26 Jul 1997

-

3

4

-

18

vs South Africa, 9 Aug 1997

1

4

4

-

25

vs Australia, 16 Aug 1997

-

3

5

-

21

vs Wales 'A', 11 Nov 1997

-

5

2

-

16

vs Emerging England, 18 Nov 1997

-

5

3

-

19

vs English Rugby Partnership XV, 25 Nov 1997

1

1

2

-

13

vs England 'A', 2 Dec 1997

-

2

1

-

7

vs England, 27 Jun 1998

-

3

-

-

6

vs Australia, 11 Jul 1998

-

-

1

-

3

vs Italy, 25 Nov 2000

1

5

2

-

21

vs England, 14 Jun 2003

-

1

2

-

8

vs Wales, 21 Jun 2003

1

-

-

-

5

vs South Africa, 19 Jul 2003

1

4

3

-

22

vs Australia, 26 Jul 2003

-

2

3

-

13

vs South Africa, 9 Aug 2003

-

1

4

-

14

vs Australia, 16 Aug 2003

-

1

3

-

11

vs Italy, 11 Oct 2003

2

-

1

-

13

vs Tonga, 24 Oct 2003

1

1

-

-

7

vs Wales, 2 Nov 2003

1

-

-

-

5

vs England, 12 Jun 2004

1

-

-

-

5

vs England, 19 Jun 2004

1

-

-

-

5

vs South Africa, 24 Jul 2004

-

-

1

-

3

vs Australia, 7 Aug 2004

-

-

1

-

3

Totals

16

72

53

0

383

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Argentina

2

2

-

-

3

16

2

-

53

Australia

10

6

-

4

-

11

19

-

79

Canada

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

England

6

3

1

2

2

4

2

-

24

France

3

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Italy

2

2

-

-

3

5

3

-

34

Pacific Islanders

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

South Africa

7

6

-

1

3

12

15

-

84

Tonga

1

1

-

-

1

1

-

-

7

Wales

2

2

-

-

2

-

-

-

10

Totals

35

27

1

7

14

49

41

0

291