 Alright everybody, what is going on, welcome back to another video and to the top 10 greatest New Zealand All Blacks of all time. Today we're going to be covering a man by the name of Sean Fitzpatrick. The first memory, before we get into everything, I want to just talk about a personal memory of mine. I remember having my first ever All Blacks team poster on my wall as possibly a five year old I think. 1995 was when I first started following Rugby and I remember seeing Sean Fitzpatrick who was All Blacks captain, All Blacks captain at the time, which is a huge honour, there haven't been many All Blacks captains. And I remember reading his name. I'd heard his name be called by the commentators but I'd never read it and it was spelled S-E-A-N and I thought for the very first time in my life, why is it spelled like that? That's that scene. That's not Sean. That scene and that will always stick in my mind because ever since then I've realised that S-E-A-N is actually pronounced Sean. So there's a little memory for you. Now Sean Fitzpatrick is still even past his retirement involved in the game of Rugby. He is an absolute legend and he's also a legendary, not only in New Zealand but also South Africa. Sean Fitzpatrick or Sean Brian Thomas Fitzpatrick was born on the 4th of June 1963 in Auckland, New Zealand. He plays Provincial Rugby for Auckland and we'll get into that later. He was listed at 1.83 metres tall or 6 foot on the dot and 105 kilograms. So that's over 230 pounds. He had pace, he had skill that was not meant to be associated with a player in his position which was Hooker. A Hooker is right at the front of that scrum. You see those two big huge groups of forwards go in like that. He's right at the front holding that down for the team. So he played Hooker all black number 871. He played a total of 92 test matches for New Zealand which at the time was a world record between the years of 1986 and 1997. During his test career he scored a total of 11 tries which as a Hooker proved his skill set. In 1992 Sean Fitzpatrick was given the captaincy of the All Blacks as I mentioned before and he held that captaincy until he retired in 1997. Sean Fitzpatrick just as a lot of these top 10 All Blacks of all time were was made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1997. He remains an icon in New Zealand Rugby and will forever go down as one of the greatest New Zealand All Blacks and one of the greatest Hookers, one of the greatest international Rugby players of all time. He had a certain influence over people. He was tough. He was tough. He was captain of the All Blacks and that says enough on its own. Not only was he honoured with the New Zealand Order of Merit, he also throughout his career won an absolutely ridiculous amount of championships not only with his provincial side Auckland but also with the All Blacks against Australia which is a cup called the Bledders Low Cup. It's played every year, a series of either two or three matches between Australia and New Zealand. It is a huge deal. It still is and I think New Zealand at this point have actually, it's 2019, we've retained it this year and ever since 2002 New Zealand has not lost the Bleders Low Cup to Australia. That's 17 years on the top. That is the dominance of All Blacks Rugby. Now let's go back to Sean's career. He played for New Zealand from 1986 to 1997 and in that time he also played for Auckland as I mentioned. He won the National Provincial Championship the NPC Trophy with Auckland in 1987, 1988, 89, 90, 93, 94, 95 and 96 and that is a dynasty with Auckland Rugby. From that point Canterbury, the place that I'm from in the South Island of New Zealand has actually become somewhat of a dynasty team. Not only did he win all of those trophies with Auckland but he also took New Zealand to the Bleders Low Cup in 1987, 88, 89, 90, 91, 93, 95, 96 and 97. So he definitely went out on top. He also was a member of the inaugural World Cup squad which won in 1987. As well as all those trophies, Sean Fitzpatrick holds currently the international record for the most consecutive test matches played by a rugby player not just for New Zealand but internationally which is 63 successive test matches between 1986 and 1996. He also holds as a part of the All Blacks team the international team record for the most consecutive test wins in a row without defeat which was 23 between 1987 and 1990. Now these days the New Zealand All Blacks team will play maybe 10, maybe 15 tests throughout a year. Back in the day, back in the late 80s, early 90s there was a lot less test matches played. So guys the video excerpts you're going to see are from this DVD that I managed to pick up not too long ago from a second hand store for a dollar. And as soon as I watched it it gave me goosebumps and I know it's going to give you some goosebumps too. Now Sean Fitzpatrick wasn't the flashiest of players but he was definitely ahead of his time as far as the position of hooker and like I mentioned before Sean Fitzpatrick is the reason why I know that Sean, spelled S-E-A-N is pronounced Sean so that's a personal story for you. I absolutely love rugby, I hope you guys are enjoying this series, this is a passion project for me, the 2019 Rugby World Cup begins tomorrow and go All Blacks, enjoy. Sean Fitzpatrick was in his own way just as tough and uncompromising a player as the great Colin Meades. In a poll of rugby's greatest ever hookers Fitzpatrick would be in the mix for certain. Son of a former All Black, Brian Fitzpatrick, Sean made his debut for New Zealand in 1986 and would remain at the heart of the team for another 11 years. Like many great captains Fitzpatrick led by example and when he had to retire through injury in 1997 he had collected a world record 92 caps, the most capped All Black of all time. It's Goody that gets hands to that again, quickly supported by Oswald, finally released and right. It offers New Zealand the momentum there, the kick going backwards, perfectly laid back. Boticer again with space, the inside support from Little. Fitzpatrick on one side, Boticer on the other so he's gotta help. This is Fitzpatrick still going with Earl on the outside, meter short can he get there? Yes again, well the floodgates already open, it's just 17 minutes gone and the New Zealand hooker there running virtually unopposed and really it's difficult times for the home side. And this was disappointing because it was a bad kick which initially gave New Zealand possession but the backs are looking very, very sharp. And look for the support inside and outside, there's one pass on the inside. Just watch again Little, there he is Gallagher, he knows he's dead on the blind so he looks inside and look that's a hooker who's got there and he's very strong as Sean Fitzpatrick. Look you'll see the rest of the pack, there he is, there they come round in number five, number four, tremendous strength and he drives over punishing the ponderpool errors. Forston, neat little dummy cheeky running this and what a confident player trundling up the middle, classic hooker start, it's Fitzpatrick over the corner, Wilson's outside but Fitzpatrick wanted it all himself and London really, well London really so lucky. Fitzpatrick I think thought I'm going to have a great moment of Georgia trick and who can blame him to get the game as one. I think he was thinking about the chapter in the book here that, trying to emulate Wilson, winner raise dummy and the Barbarians game in 63 but really should have offloaded the ball there to Jeff Wilson.