Michael Jones

Few players have exuded so much charisma and mystique as Michael Jones, a supremely gifted athlete who whenever he was fit and available was almost invariably one of the first names written down in any All Black team sheet.

Jones was in the All Blacks for nearly the same period of time as his contemporary Sean Fitzpatrick. Yet while Fitzpatrick’s test tally was in the 90s Jones played just 55.

That, of course, was a reflection of Jones’ many absences caused firstly by his unavailability for any matches played on Sundays and secondly from his many injuries.

His serious knee injury in particular in a test against the Argentinian Pumas at Athletic Park in 1989 effectively split Jones’ international career into two distinct parts.

In his first period Jones played mainly as an open side flanker, from the time he made his All Black debut in the 1987 World Cup through to the mishap against the Pumas, and as such he helped redefine the position. He had pace, athleticism, ball skills and a punishing tackle which quickly won him acclaim as one of the most gifted rugby players of all time. And despite being not much more than 1.85m he was able to out jump taller forwards because of a spring honed by his years as an accomplished young basketballer.

Jones was obliviously destined for stardom from the time he made the Auckland side as a 20 year old and in his representative debut scored three tries against South Canterbury. Top performances towards the end of the 1986 season in Auckland’s Ranfurly Shield defences confirmed that promise and he was ear-marked for the All Blacks when he starred with the Barbarians in 1987 on a tour of Britain. He also appeared for the New Zealand Colts and, being of Samoan descent, played a test for Western Samoa in 1986.

In the 1987-88-89 seasons, despite problems from his religious principles forbidding Sunday play, it seemed as if Jones was a player blessed and he was one of the best All Blacks in the World Cup triumph. He was the first man to score a World Cup try and in one of the pool matches against Fiji he showed the finesse and judgement of a centre in putting wing Craig Green away for a try.

But the knee injury against the Pumas ruled him out for nearly 12 months and when he returned towards the end of the 1990 season, though still superb, he may have been not quite the same dynamic player.

Nevertheless, he was taken to the 1991 World Cup tournament and he scored in the opening match against England at Twickenham. But Jones’s unavailability for three Sunday matches in the 1991 tournament was a factor which did not help the All Blacks’ bid to retain the title won in 1987. The composition of the squad to cover for Jones was also direly affected when another of the loose forwards, Mike Brewer, failed a fitness test and was a late withdrawal.

Jones was not chosen for the 1995 World Cup in South Africa because of the Sunday complication and the tough decision taken by then All Black coach Laurie Mains was undoubtedly justified. Yet that was not to be, as many had assumed, the end of Jones’s All Black career even if another injury, a broken jaw, had ruled him out of the 1993 tour of England and Scotland and in 1997 against Fiji there was another serious knee problem.

But increasingly in the mid 1990s Jones had been making the switch, both with Auckland and the All Blacks, from being an openside tearaway to the more conservative, less flamboyant but more physical demands of becoming a blindside flanker. As a number six, with his strength, commitment and fierce close quarter tackling, he was especially effective in 1996, when the All Blacks scored a record 43-6 win over the Wallabies at Athletic Park, won the inaugural tri-nations title and won a test series for the first time over the Springboks in South Africa.

But by 1998, when he was 33, it was clear he was now beginning to feel the effects of his many injuries and after some disastrous All Black results that season he became one of the casualties, being dropped for the final two tests of that season.

He played for the Blues again in the 1999 Super 12 and for Auckland in the national provincial championship, having the satisfaction of being in a team which won the final.

Jones won many plaudits for his on field deeds, even being acclaimed by some judges as the greatest rugby player of all time. That may have been arguable, but he certainly would be a candidate of any dream All Black XV.

Of part Samoan heritage, he was a splendid role model off the field as well. Always polite and quietly spoken, and a solid student who gained two university degrees, he won respect for the dignified manner with which he stuck to his principles.

In 2003 the International Rugby Hall of Fame Trust inducted Jones into the sport’s International Halt of Fame. Jones later coached the Samoan team. His biography ‘Iceman-The Michael Jones Story’ by Robin McConnell was published in 1994.

Made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2017 for services to the Pacific community and youth.

Mr Michael Jones is a former rugby union player and coach who has played in World Cups for New Zealand and has since been a driver of economic and social development for Pacific people in New Zealand and the Pacific region.

Mr Jones founded and is Chairman of the Village Community and Youth Trust, which emerged in 2003 out of a youth drop-in initiative in West Auckland to keep Pacific and Maori youth out of gang activity. He launched the Village Sports Academy in 2010 as part of the wider work of the Village Trust.

He championed the establishment of Village Trust’s mentoring programme targeting Pacific students to stay in school and fulfil their educational potential, and the Street level Learning Academy for 15 to 18 year olds who had dropped out of school.

He was instrumental in establishing the Pacific Peoples Advancement Trust, which established and sponsors the Pacific Advance Senior School, opened in 2015 to raise educational achievement of Pacific students who have traditionally struggled to fulfil their learning potential in mainstream settings.

He is a Trustee of a number of Pacific economic and social transformational organisations, including the Community Christian Fellowship (CCF) in West Auckland. He was appointed Community Partnerships Manager at the Auckland University of Technology in 2001 and advocated for a Pacific seat on AUT’s executive, which resulted in the establishment of the Pasifika Advancement Office in 2004.

Following the tsunami affecting Samoa and Tonga in 2009, Mr Jones assisted with organising the collection and distribution of emergency supplies to affected communities.

HONOURS
Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, New Year’s Honours 1997
Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, Queen’s Birthday Honours 2017