Sam Harding

There was no doubting the rugby pedigree of 2002 All Black loose forward Sam Harding. His great uncle W Rowe Harding played for Wales 1923-28 (four matches as captain) and toured South Africa with the 1924 Lions. Sam�s father Leo and uncles William and Tony Nixon all represented Western Australia, with Tony playing for the state against the 1974 All Blacks.

Born in Perth Sam Harding attended Christ�s College and appeared for New Zealand Under 16 in 1996 and N Z Secondary Schools in 1998. Playing for the University club in Dunedin he made a solitary appearance for Otago in 1999, then reappeared in 2001, from the Dunedin club, establishing himself as the first choice open side flanker. The Rugby Almanack thought his �performance grew in stature with each game�. Earlier in the season he had been a member of the New Zealand Colts team that won an international Under 21 tournament in Australia. With Richie McCaw the first choice open side Harding�s four appearances were off the bench.

Harding�s career to this time had shown considerable promise but no more than a number of others. So it came as a major surprise when, with normal open side backup Marty Holah injured, he was named to play in the fourth test of 2002, against Fiji. Craig Newby had been the preferred open side for the Highlanders over the latter part of the Super 12 season but a strong performance by Harding for the Barbarians (for which he was called up late) against  New Zealand Maori a week before the Fiji match worked in his favour. Coach John Mitchell had made 12 changes from the team that had played Ireland a week before but even so Harding�s selection was unexpected. The All Blacks were convincing 68-18 winners of a bruising match that was hardly an acid test for the new All Black.

All Black coach John Mitchell after the test gave Harding things in his game to work on which no doubt he did. But by the end of the season he had been overtaken by Josh Blackie as Otago�s starting open-side flanker and by Auckland�s Daniel Braid for the end of season All Black tour to England, France and Wales.

That sole test appearance was Harding�s last national representation. He continued to appear for the Highlanders and Otago in 2003 and 2004, sometimes at No. 8 or blindside flanker but by 2004 was battling for a starting spot. In 2005 he made eight appearances, all off the bench, for the Crusaders, then left to play in the Northern Hemisphere, initially for Northanpton, then Arix Viadana in Italy. He made 45 appearances for Otago and 44 in Super 12 rugby. Well built (1.84m, 103kg) he was a strong and quick ball carrier but his call up to the All Blacks, regardless of the circumstances, was speculative and probably did him no favours.

Younger brother Tom, also a loose forward, played for New Zealand at the 2002-03 Under 21 World Cups and has represented Otago, North Harbour, Worcester and Wellington.