Marc Ellis

Marc Ellis was and is such a lively personality off the field with his constant television appearances and zany humour that there could be a tendency to overlook his considerable rugby ability in which he demonstrated both pace and flair.

He was a prominent member of some excellent and entertaining Otago sides of the early to mid 1990s. With Stu Forster at halfback, Stephen Bachop in the five eighths, Ellis and John Leslie in the midfield and John Timu, Paul Cooke and Greg Cooper as outside backs New Zealand has known few better provincial backlines.

At international level, though, Ellis was to become another victim of the utility tag. It never became quite clear which was his best position and he was rotated between centre, first five eighths, wing and fullback. Unfortunately, he never became established anywhere.

His early first class rugby was at centre and it was in this position he was first chosen for the All Blacks in 1992 in the centenary matches (in which he did not play) and on the tour of Australia and South Africa. But he could not displace Frank Bunce as the first choice and there was always a feeling that Ellis did not have quite the physical power needed in the midfield in the modern game.

Ellis had been a first five eighths when he had been a schoolboy star at Wellington College and it was in this position in which he was tried as a successor to the retired Grant Fox in 1993. Ellis made his test debut on the 1993 tour appearing in both internationals against Scotland and England. He marked his debut with two tries against Scotland.

His lack of a kicking game, though, was exposed in the loss to England and after a move to fullback his 1994 season was disrupted by injury.

Ellis was back in the All Blacks for the 1995 season but mainly as a backup wing to Jeff Wilson and Jonah Lomu. However, he made a number of appearances during the World Cup tournament in South Africa and for the only time in his test career was at centre, probably the position he himself favoured, for the pool match against Japan.

In the 145-17 rout of Japan Ellis scored six tries, which was, and remains, the record for an All Black in a test. After that match, though, Ellis gained a gentle rebuke from coach Laurie Mains for choosing to go on his own to score some of these tries rather than passing to unmarked men outside.

Those six tries meant that Ellis finished his test career of just eight tests with 11 tries.

At the end of the 1995 season Ellis switched to league to play for the Warriors. He appeared for the Kiwis in five tests and was as proud of that as he was of his games with the All Blacks. But in league as he had in rugby Ellis suffered from an uncertainty as to which was his best position.

He moved back to rugby in 1998 and over the next three seasons played 24 matches for North Harbour. He also had 20 Super 12 games (for the Blues in 1999 and the Highlanders in 2000). But despite being named controversially in one of the early training squads for the 1999 World Cup he never looked like regaining an All Black position.