It would be inaccurate and unfair to suggest that the career in top rugby of John Timu had been a disappointment. After all, Timu finished his first class career of seven seasons between 1988 and 1994 with 108 tries and he played 50 matches for the All Blacks, including 26 tests.He also reached a century of matches for Otago, scoring 68 tries in his 101 games.

But there must always be a slight twinge of regret associated with Timu in that he never quite realised his considerable potential. There were two main factors contributing to this.

At the age of 25, when he still had many productive seasons ahead, Timu switched to rugby league, joining the Bulldogs club in Sydney. Thus his All Black career ended prematurely and he missed the 1995 World Cup tournament in South Africa, for which he would have been a certainty.

And right through his career there was uncertainty as to which was his best All Black position and he alternated between the wing and fullback.

Even when he on the wing, too, it was often not in his best and more natural position, which was on the right.

But the presence, especially in the early part of his career, of John Kirwan meant that frequently Timu, even though he lacked a strong left foot, was played on the left wing. The switches of positions may explain why Timu finished with a relatively low strike rate in test match scoring: just seven tries in his 26 tests.

A product of southern Hawke's Bay, Timu attended Lindisfarne College in Hastings where he soon showed his rare attacking skills and flairs. In the 1986-87 seasons he was a contemporary of a number of other gifted teenagers who eventually would become All Black backline stars. Jasin Goldsmith, Inga Tuigamala, Craig Innes and Walter Little were his team-mates in several national age group and secondary school sides.

Timu followed a by then well worn path among Hawke's Bay prodigies to Otago University and in his first season in Dunedin, in 1988, he made an instant impact. He immediately made the Otago representative side and in his debut season scored a record number of tries for the province, 16.

Still only a teenager, Timu that year made the New Zealand Maori side for the first time (on the tour under Wayne Shelford's captaincy of Europe and Argentina) and was also in the South zone side, equivalent to a South Island team, for the George Nepia Trophy series.

In 1989 he became an All Black for the first time when he was the replacecement for an injured Kirwan on the tour of Ireland and Wales. He thus joined his team-mates from age group sides in Innes, Tuigamala and Little, in the touring party. Indeed, it had been a close decision between him and Little for a place in the original selection, Little gaining the nod with some late impressive NPC form for North Harbour.

The preference for Kirwan and Terry Wright meant Timu and Tuigamala had to bide their time for test spots, though both went on the 1990 tour of France. By 1991 the claims of Timu in particular were becoming even more pressing and that year he made his test debut on the tour of Argentina.

But a sign of the selection dilemmas which would soon arise for Timu came with the World Cup quarterfinal of 1991 against Canada in Lille, France. Because of injuries Timu was moved to fullback, where he had played only rarely, and he responded by scoring two tries. Despite that double, though, he was overlooked for the following week's semifinal against Australia as a fullback.

Timu played the early season tests of 1992 as a wing but on the tour of Australia and South Africa he was shifted to fullback, where he proved an effective attacker. He retained his place at fullback through 1993 in the series against the Lions, in tests against Manu Samoa and Australia and then on the tour of Scotland and England. But after playing the first two tests of 1994 against France as a fullback he returned to wing for the series against the Springboks and the one-off Bledisloe Cup test in Sydney.

He then made his surprise move to league joining the Bulldogs. He adapted to the 13-men code reasonably well, mainly as a midfield back.

Between 1995 and 1997 he made nine international appearances for the Kiwis.

Profile by Lindsay Knight
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

John Kahukura Raymond Timu

BORN

Thursday, 8 May 1969 in Dannevirke

AGE

41

PHYSICAL

1.80m, 82kg

POSITION

Wing and fullback

LAST SCHOOL

Lindisfarne College

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Otago University

PROVINCE

Otago

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Tuesday, 31 October 1989
v Newport at Newport
aged 20 years, 176 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 6 July 1991
v Argentina at Buenos Aires
aged 22 years, 59 days

LAST TEST

Wednesday, 17 August 1994
v Australia at Sydney
aged 25 years, 101 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

26 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

24 (0 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

50 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

31pts (7t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

86pts (20t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

117pts (27t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

905

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

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1989

 31 Oct vs Newport at Newport 54-9  

 8 Nov vs Leinster at Dublin 36-9  

 14 Nov vs Connacht at Galway 40-6  

 21 Nov vs Ulster at Belfast 21-3  

1990

 17 Oct vs Provence/Cote D'Azur Invitation XV at Toulon 15-19  

 27 Oct vs French Barbarians at Agen 23-13  

 6 Nov vs A French XV at La Rochelle 22-15  

1991

 15 Jun vs Rosario at Rosario 81-9  

 19 Jun vs Cordoba at Cordoba 38-9  

 25 Jun vs Tucuman at Tucuman 21-9  

 29 Jun vs Argentina 'B' at Buenos Aires 22-6  

 2 Jul vs Cuyo at Mendoza 47-12  

 6 Jul vs Argentina at Buenos Aires 28-14  

 9 Jul vs Mar del Plata at Mar del Plata 48-6  

 10 Aug vs Australia at Sydney 12-21  

 24 Aug vs Australia at Auckland 6-3  

 3 Oct vs England at London 18-12  

 8 Oct vs USA at Gloucester 46-6  

 20 Oct vs Canada at Lille 29-13  

 27 Oct vs Australia at Dublin 6-16  

1992

 22 Apr vs World XV at Wellington 54-26  

 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  

 1 Jul vs A.C.T. at Canberra 45-13  

 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  

 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  

 26 Oct vs Midlands at Leicester 12-6  

 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  

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs Newport, 31 Oct 1989

1

-

-

-

4

vs Leinster, 8 Nov 1989

2

-

-

-

8

vs French Barbarians, 27 Oct 1990

1

-

-

-

4

vs A French XV, 6 Nov 1990

1

-

-

-

4

vs Rosario, 15 Jun 1991

3

-

-

-

12

vs Cordoba, 19 Jun 1991

2

-

-

-

8

vs Cuyo, 2 Jul 1991

2

-

-

-

8

vs Mar del Plata, 9 Jul 1991

2

-

-

-

8

vs USA, 8 Oct 1991

1

-

-

-

4

vs Canada, 20 Oct 1991

2

-

-

-

8

vs Ireland, 6 Jun 1992

1

-

-

-

4

vs Western Australia, 21 Jun 1992

4

-

-

-

20

vs Australia, 19 Jul 1992

1

-

-

-

5

vs Junior South Africa, 8 Aug 1992

1

-

-

-

5

vs South Africa, 15 Aug 1992

1

-

-

-

5

vs England 'A', 7 Nov 1993

1

-

-

-

5

vs South Africa, 23 Jul 1994

1

-

-

-

5

Totals

27

0

0

0

117

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Argentina

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Australia

8

3

-

5

1

-

-

-

5

British & Irish Lions

3

2

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

Canada

1

1

-

-

2

-

-

-

8

England

2

1

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

France

2

-

-

2

-

-

-

-

-

Ireland

1

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

4

Samoa

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Scotland

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

South Africa

4

3

1

-

2

-

-

-

10

USA

1

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

4

World XV

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Totals

26

16

1

9

7

0

0

0

31