Great Outdoors - Captain Jack : Leading from the front

Veteran All Black Chris Jack talks about his love for rugby, returning to the Top of the South and captaining the Makos. | By Craig Sisterson
Over twenty years playing rugby, hundreds upon hundreds of games for a variety of teams - from his Shirley Boys’ High School First XV to the pinnacle of the All Blacks to pulling on a Saracens jumper in the English Premiership - veteran lock Chris Jack has experienced many different things. But occasionally there’s still something completely new, like when he won the toss before the Makos preseason game against Otago. “I didn’t know what to do because I’d never done it before,” chuckles Jack, who despite being a leading player on many teams, is new to the captaincy role he has with the Makos for the 2010 ITM Cup season.

“I’m enjoying it. I’m enjoying leading a lot of younger guys,” he says. “I’m hopefully going to give them a lot of experience. You know I’ve been around a lot of great leaders, so hopefully that’ll help. But mainly it’s just giving that experience and showing the experience at the right times.”

Jack’s own rugby experience traces back to his days as an adolescent second-five eighth, having converted to the sport his two older brothers played after initially starting out with soccer. “I used to go along and watch and be their ball boy and stuff and eventually I just decided to give it a go.” He loved the camaraderie of rugby, and as he grew, found himself moving into the forwards - first to number eight, then lock.“ At 14 I was just chucked into lock and I’ve never been able to get out. I’ve been stuck there ever since,” he says with a laugh.

Jack made a lot of age-grade representative teams through his teens, but it wasn’t until he was in the New Zealand Under-19s that he really realised he “could be alright” at rugby, he says. “I remember at the time I looked through a programme for the Canterbury squad and all of them had played for the Under-19s. And I thought that’s quite a good step, so I thought maybe there is a future in this for me.”

Maybe was an understatement. Over the next decade and more, Jack established himself as one the top locks in world rugby, playing 98 games for the trophy-hoarding Crusaders and 67 tests for the All Blacks. He says his biggest highlight was the 2005 Lions series. “Just the way we went out there and performed and just took them to pieces - that was something really special”.

In amongst his All Blacks commitments Jack played five games for the fledgling Makos in 2006-2007, but he says he’s seen noticeable changes in the Top of the South’s team this time around. “There was a huge split when I started playing here between Marlborough and Nelson Bays, in terms of what was going on. That’s all changed and it seems there’s a huge unity behind [the team] and everyone’s decided what they want to achieve and they’re doing it and it’s great.”

And Captain Jack has a message for all the fans out there. “We’re really excited as a team. We’re excited about what we could do this year and hopefully we’ll do you proud - and if you could come and help us out with support, that would be fantastic.”