All Blacks v Wallabies: Caleb Clarke in tears as father Eroni performs national anthem at Eden Park

Former All Black Eroni Clarke showed he has more than one string to his bow, leading Eden Park in the New Zealand national anthem before Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup test against the Wallabies.

Clarke, 56, represented New Zealand 24 times after his debut in 1992 and is the father of current All Blacks wing Caleb, who started in the No 11 jersey.

Eroni performed the English and te reo versions of God Defend New Zealand on the ground he also called home for the Blues on 51 occasions and 151 times with Auckland at provincial level.

As a sign of pride in his father, Caleb couldn’t contain his emotions as Eroni completed his performance, and was seen with tears flowing down his face.

“It’s crazy,” Caleb told Newstalk ZB at fulltime. “I actually didn’t know he was going to sing the national anthem.

“I didn’t even hear the announcement saying he was singing it.

“I was probably midway through the English part of the anthem, and I went ‘well, I know this voice’.

“I tried to hold myself together, and not cry even before I knew it was him. But once I looked at the screen, it got me, man. It got me good.

“It was really special, a pretty special occasion for the both of us.”

And, to further cement a special day for the Clarke family, Caleb dotted down to open the scoring in the early stages of the test, as the All Blacks held on for a 33-24 victory to keep hold of the Bledisloe Cup for another year.

Australia needed to win both tests outright, or clinch one win and a draw, if they were to reclaim the Bledisloe Cup for the first time since 2002.

Current Wallabies star Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i was only 2 weeks old the last time Australia held the cup.