Carl Hoeft

Born in Auckland Carl Hoeft finished his education at Te Aroha College and from there represented New Zealand Secondary Schools in 1992. Other future stars in the side were Jonah Lomu, Jeff Wilson and Carlos Spencer. He made his debut in first class rugby as an 18 year old the following season with nine matches for Thames Valley and toured Australia for the second successive year, this time with the New Zealand Under 19 team. The frontrow in their Under 19 test match was Hoeft, Kees Meeuws and Anton Oliver, a trio who were to play many many matches together for Otago, the Highlanders and New Zealand.

A full season for Thames Valley in 1994 was followed by a big 1995. Carl Hoeft was a member of the New Zealand Colts team that played in and won the first Southern Hemisphere Under 21 tournament, staged that year in Argentina. Earlier in the season he had played for the NZ Under 21 White team that were runners up (to NZ Black) in a South Pacific Under 21 tournament also involving Tonga and Western Samoa. At NPC level he was a member of the Thames Valley team that won the Third Division title.

After finishing a plumbing apprenticeship Hoeft moved to Otago during 1996 and handled the step up to first division rugby well, immediately becoming a first choice player, both for Otago and during the following season for the Highlanders. His All Black debut came in 1998 with four games, the first two as a substitute, and he was a first choice player throughout 1999. In the buildup to the 1999 World Cup an image of the All Black front row of Carl Hoeft, Anton Oliver and Kees Meeuws, captioned “Black is Thicker than Blood”, was used on All Black posters and, even on the side of the Air New Zealand plane that took them to the World Cup. Sadly the All Blacks crashed and burned in the second half of their Cup semi-final against France.

Carl Hoeft remained the first choice All Black loosehead throughout the next two seasons, but did not make the end of season tour either year. In 2002 he shared propping duties in the Super 12 with Joe McDonnell, was the preferred choice for Otago but was not required for the All Blacks, with Dave Hewett and McDonnell chosen. He was recalled to the wider All Black squad in 2003, starting two matches and appearing once as a substitute.

Though he continued to give the Highlanders and Otago good service his only subsequent national involvement was as substitute in the 2004 All Black trial and with the New Zealand Juniors in Australia in 2005.

He left New Zealand during that season’s NPC to play for the Castres club in France, alongside longtime front row teammate Kees Meeuws. By a happy coincidence his last match for Otago also marked the return from a long injury break of his other front row partner Anton Oliver.

His career finished with 31 All Black matches, all but one of them tests. In addition he made 37 appearances for Thames Valley, over 70 for Otago, 98 for the Highlanders and won NPC titles with Thames Valley (3rd Div. 1995) amd Otago in 1998.