Roger Randle

Roger Randle was a big (1.90m, 100 kg) speedy wing, initially from Hawke�s Bay, who had he played in another era might have had a significant All Black career. But his rugby was played in the shadows of some of the very best All Blacks wings, including Jonah Lomu, Jeff Wilson, Tana Umaga and later on Doug Howlett. Eric Rush, Glenn Osborne, Caleb Ralph, Joeli Vidiri, Bruce Reihana, and Norm Berryman were other wings who competed for All Black spots during Randle�s career. Consequently his All Black involvement was limited to two mid week matches on the 2001 end of season tour.

Born in Hastings and educated at Hastings Boys High School Roger Randle made an instant impression in first class rugby. His Hawke�s Bay debut, from the Hastings HSOB club, as a 20 year old early in 1995, saw him scoring six tries in his first four matches. He increased this to 17 by the end of the season, only one less than the union record. Earlier in the season he had appeared for Hawke�s Bay in the national Sevens tournament and then represented New Zealand at the Fiji Sevens.

He also scored heavily (five tries against Tonga) at a South Pacific U21 tournament and appeared in all three matches for New Zealand U21 at a Southern Hemisphere tournament in Buenos Aires. The Rugby Almanack described him as �a young newcomer with considerable potential� and chose him as one of their �Five Promising Players�. He made such an impression in his early games for Hawke�s Bay that he appeared in an All Black trial in April 1995.

Randle had a busy season in 1996, playing in the Uruguay Sevens, an appearance for the Hurricanes, a full season for Hawke�s Bay, three matches for the Divisional XV and an end of season visit to Fiji and Tonga with New Zealand Maori. After playing at the World Cup Sevens in Hong Kong his provincial rugby in 1997 was for Central Vikings, a combined Hawke�s Bay-Manawatu side, before he transferred to Waikato in 1998.

From 1998 Randle appeared primarily for the Chiefs and Waikato and there were a number of highlights. He was a prolific scorer in Ranfurly Shield rugby, including 14 tries in his first season with Waikato, playing for New Zealand Maori in a big win over England in 1998 and membership of the Sevens squads that won gold medals at the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games.

After being in the All Black squad for the 2001 domestic and Sanzar tests but not taking the field his seasons of strong performances were rewarded with inclusion on the end of season tour to Ireland, Scotland and Argentina, part of a somewhat speculative selection by new All Black coach John Mitchell. Randle played the two midweek matches, against Ireland �A� and Scotland �A�. Both matches were won comfortably but somewhat surprisingly for such a potent finisher he was not among the try scorers

Though continuing to play well he was not again in All Black contention and after making a solitary appearance for Waikato (Sitiveni Sivivatu and Sosene Anesi, both All Blacks, were the starting wings) at the end of the 2004 season he left to play in France, then Italy but was back in 2006, playing a further eight matches for Waikato to take his tally to 63 and scoring his 50th try for the union.