Where are they now? Jeff Wilson on his greatest rugby and cricket hits, move into commentary, and preferred All Blacks’ back three

Sunday, 3 May 2026

Jeff Wilson was the last so-called “double All Black’’ - a national representative at rugby and cricket.

It is a small illustrious group that will likely be never added to in the future, such is the difficulty of trying to make it in two sports at the highest level in the professional age.

Wilson was a try-scoring freak for the All Blacks, dotting down for 44 tries in his 60 tests between 1993-2001.

A gifted athlete, he was also adept with bat and ball, playing four ODIs against Australia in 1993 before returning to the Black Caps 12 years later in 2005 for matches against the FICA World XI and Australia.

These days, Wilson is a respected Sky Sport rugby commentator and a regular panelist on The Breakdown.

The 52-year-old speaks to Brendon Egan in this week’s ‘Where are they now?’.

You are a rare double-international. Is there any slim hope a professional rugby player could do what you did and crack the Black Caps?

If you think what T20 is, absolutely there’s an opportunity for someone who’s played cricket growing up and who’s a talented rugby player that the T20 pathway could quite easily be crossed. That’s about hand-eye co-ordination. It’s less technical, whether you have raw power or good athleticism. We’ve seen guys, you look at a Jordie Barrett for example who’s just come across and played in a Black Clash and looked more than comfortable as a striker of the ball and can roll his arm over and is a great athlete. I don’t doubt it’s possible. Whether anyone explores to try and do it, I’m not sure. I don’t doubt someone could have the skill set.

What do you think it would take to happen?

I think there are a lot of rugby players at the top level who, if they’ve got a skill set and they get a bit of time off in the summer and T20 competitions don’t generally last that long. It would be a one-off scenario. I’ve said to the Major Associations, ‘Why wouldn’t you take a chance?’. If you’re trying to bring fans into the ground and you want people to watch something a little bit different….I think it’s possible if someone chased it a little bit later in their career or decided for a different challenge. I think somebody in the future could possibly do it. At the same time, very unlikely though.

You made your ODI debut at 19 against Australia at Carisbrook. What are your big memories?

Overwhelming without a doubt. I had no idea I’d make the team. I thought my cricket season was done [with Otago], then all of a sudden I got selected for the Black Caps. I’m playing with guys I’d hardly played against at all. The likes of an Andrew Jones, Martin Crowe, Danny Morrison. These guys are legends. For me it was almost like a whirlwind or a blur. Carisbrook and looking at a full stadium, having been to games of rugby, watching when they’d been lots of people there. It was incredible. It really, really was. I was incredibly fortunate to get the opportunity to do it and I have vivid memories. I bowled nine very tidy overs and then Allan Border took to me in my last over and I went for about 50 off my 10. As an experience, I got rolled by Paul Reiffel on the fourth ball. It was an incredible experience.

In that series you hit the winning runs in Hamilton, scoring 44 not out from 28 balls. How often do people bring up that great knock?

The crazy thing about that and probably the most satisfying is I still get people to this day, who are cricket fans, who remind me of that day. I don’t think about it all, but they say, ‘I was at Hamilton’. I say, ‘That’s a lot of people who were at Seddon Park on that day’. The number of people who have come up to me and said that. That’s the most enjoyable part of it. People remember the experience of the day, where we’re winning in the last over.

Great drama and it kept the series alive. Martin Crowe hit 90-odd (91). Everyone quite often looks at the guy who hit the winning runs, but if you go back to what he was doing on a really bad knee, it was an amazing innings which gave us a chance. Luckily, things played out for me at the end. When you’ve got nothing to lose sometimes things come off. It’s pretty cool. I can say I hit the winning runs against Australia in a one-day international. That’s pretty special.

You copped a bit of stick returning to the Black Caps after a 12-year break in 2005 with Auckland’s Tama Canning even saying you weren’t technically good enough for that level. How you did you handle that?

He was probably right. Technically, I’d struggle to convert back to the game. My body was finding it hard to come from being a rugby player back into cricket. I’d started to find a little bit of form and clearly they were looking for something in their squad. The World XI stuff was a completely different level of competition to playing against Australia [later that summer]. That was playing against one of the great Australian teams. We got absolutely pumped. Our side wasn’t that bad. That was a remarkable Australian team.

I remember the conversations. I was very much surprised about my selection and we went through the conversation and they were looking for something maybe I could bring. It would be fair to say I was struggling to compete at that level, but by the same token so were a lot of our players… I can understand why people were critical at the time because it was a little bit out of left-field. I don’t pick the team and I’m not going to turn down the opportunity and I gave it a shot. It wasn’t meant to be.

You scored a staggering nine tries for Cargill High School in Invercargill against James Hargest College in 1992 and 66 points for the game (tries were four points then). How much did that moment change your life?

There was a lot of attention around that, but by the same token it was just a game of rugby and we had a very good team and unfortunately for James Hargest they didn’t have a great side. That’s just sport. Did it change my life? Not at all. It’s a little bit of attention, but the one thing you always get down in Invercargill and in Southland is you get good grounding and people who keep your feet on the ground. Yes, it got some media attention, but for me I was just playing and playing with really good young fellas around me.

There’s no doubt it started a bit of a snowball effect around getting a chance to play for Metro and then Southland and then to Otago. Each step along the way there’s been different things that happen and different people help you along the way. When you get all that support you need and you’re given an opportunity, right place, right time. I had a lot of those moments, which resulted in me getting opportunities and luckily I did enough to take those.

You scored a stack of tries for the All Blacks, Otago, and the Highlanders. What was the most spectacular one?

I’ll always come to the chip and chase against South Africa in 1996 [in the second test in Pretoria] when we were part of a history-making team. I looked at that skill set as being something that was sort of unique to me and the decision to do it and the way it played out and being part of such an important game and part of history, that probably stands out. I always tried to pride myself on being in the right place at the right time as a player and I come back to, I was part of some great sides.

Those moments collectively when they’re part of big games, those ones have real meaning. I scored one the week before in the first test in Durban. It wasn’t spectacular by any means, shape, or form, but in the context of the fixture it was important. I remember those tries, rather than the ones that might be spectacular because one, of the moment and how important they were in regards to the result.

How often do you think about the 1995 Rugby World Cup final against South Africa and what might have been?

I don’t think about any of it much any more. I don’t dwell on the past. I tend to focus on what’s going forward. There’s no doubt 1995 was a real disappointment and frustration because we believed we were a team good enough to win a Rugby World Cup. The reality is the score will always be 15-12 and nothing is going to change that. I’ve certainly accepted that a long, long time ago. I was part of a great team and a bunch of great people. It will always be one that maybe got away, but I certainly don’t dwell on that any more. There’s a lot of things I don’t dwell on any more as well.

You and most of your team-mates were violently ill ahead of and during the final. Is that the worst you’ve ever felt in your life?

I’m probably like most males. The last time I was crook was the crookest I’ve ever been in my life. In regards to that, there’s no doubt. Gastro and food poisoning is food poisoning right? Everyone has probably been through that at some point in their life and you feel terrible. When you can’t do the things you need to do to be an athlete that goes out and competes and you need to have yourself in the best physical and mental shape to go and play. That was a massive contributing factor [to the result].

The All Blacks took another star-studded squad away to the 1999 Rugby World Cup, but came undone in the semifinal to France. How tough was it to not meet your expectations again?

Once again, it was just not being able to deliver in a moment we had control of. Sometimes it was the balance of inexperience and French brilliance. You combine those two things together and they went on a tear for 15 minutes, which was simply game-changing. We had the game in control for five or six minutes after halftime and everything was going along quite well and once the momentum shifted we couldn’t find a way to get it.

1999 was one of those situations, a hurdle we couldn’t overcome and you look back at it as another missed opportunity, but don’t dwell on it because what I do know is all the players in that group and the coaches and management, everyone had done everything they could possibly could to prepare. That’s the pressure of playing at World Cups, whether it’s playing against France or South Africa, whoever it might be. You do need to have things go your way and you do need to be able to deal with the moment and unfortunately we didn’t deal with the moment, which is disappointing.

You played a lot with the late, great Jonah Lomu for the All Blacks. What’s your favourite Jonah memory?

I didn’t know anything about Jonah Lomu when I showed up to a secondary schools’ regional tournament. There was two northern teams, a central and a southern [side]. We get to the tournament and it’s in Tauranga and I was playing fullback for the southern team. I vividly remember Jonah [playing at No 8] coming off the back of three scrums well and truly deep in his own half and three times me being the last line of defence because everyone else hadn’t managed to put him on the ground. I was no different to everybody else. I was left in the wake. I got the introduction and then got the privilege to play in teams with him. He was a great man and I had the privilege of rooming with him a lot. He was a generous and great guy to be around. He left a lasting impression on me as he left me lying in the dirt at Tauranga Domain.

You’ve commentated rugby on Sky for a long time. What does it take to be successful in that job?

I think research and doing your homework and preparation, just like anything else you do in life. If you want to get better at something and I’ve still got a long way to go. There’s a lot of great broadcasters who have helped me along the way and Sky has been fantastic. I’ve been really grateful to the people in and around the sport. I was lucky enough to coach for a number of years. Being in those conversations and having more and more of those conversations as the game changes because clearly the game is different now to when I played.

You have to prepare and have conversations about how teams and players are approaching the game now. It’s like anything. You’ve got to up-skill and research and try and learn as much as you can along the way. The moment you stop learning you’re standing still right? Rugby is no different and commentating is no different.

If you were in Dave Rennie’s shoes as All Blacks coach and everyone is healthy and available, who’s your back three in the first test against France in Christchurch on July 4.

I think there’s a lot players right now that are in the conversation. The challenge we’ve got is a lot of them aren’t healthy. That’s our real issue. The hard part right now is I couldn’t commit to anyone. When everyone is fit and healthy, that’s a different conversation. If I was to stick my neck out, I would love to see Will Jordan, Caleb Tangitau, and Leroy Carter out there doing their thing and going for it. Also seeing Damian McKenzie at fullback and Will on the wing with Caleb Tangitau is an exciting prospect for me as well. We’ll wait and see. That’s not my decision to make. Dave Rennie and his coaching team, I think we’ll get an indication how they want to play by a whole lot of selections.

You commentated during Super Round at Christchurch’s shiny new One NZ Stadium last weekend. What most impressed you?

It’s fair to say the most important thing is we’ve finally got something right. We’ve got a stadium right in the heart of a city and you can see what it’s going to do for Christchurch. It was almost the finishing touch. Yes, they’ve got some other little things to do around the centre of Christchurch, but it was almost like the city has arrived and come and stay and enjoy our hospitality and come and enjoy something world-class.

In terms of an environment in and around it, the stadium itself is incredibly functional. The pitch is fantastic. You’re on top of the game. I’m sure there’s some things they’ll learn over the last weekend they’ll want to do better and be better at, but for an opening weekend – really high energy and the teams brought into it. I thought it was a great celebration of our national game.