Where are they now? Former All Black Eroni Clarke on the Blues’ first Super Rugby title 30 years on

Sunday, 15 February 2026

Michael Jones, Andrew Blowers, and Eroni Clarke celebrate the Blues’ 1996 Super 12 title win over the Sharks at Eden Park.

Explosive midfielder Eroni Clarke was a rock for the all-conquering Auckland and Blues rugby sides in the 1990s.

Clarke was influential in helping the Blues to the first two Super Rugby titles, going back-to-back in 1996 and 1997.

He amassed 150 provincial games for Auckland, tied for the fourth most in the union’s history.

Clarke also made his mark internationally, playing 24 matches (10 tests) for the All Blacks between 1992-98.

His son, Caleb, is following in his footsteps as a blockbusting wing for the Blues and All Blacks.

Eroni Clarke stands proudly with his son, All Blacks wing Caleb Clarke.

Clarke, 57, speaks to Brendon Egan in this week’s ‘Where are they now?’.

You work as the Pacific engagement manager for NZ Rugby. What does the job entail?

After a couple of research papers and also collaborations that New Zealand Rugby worked with in our communities they discovered there was a real wonderful contribution of Pacific on the field, but certainly in some of the non-playing areas where Pacific really lack numbers – we’re thinking areas like in governance, administration of the game, the coaching and the refereeing, where some of these spaces it would be important to have a little bit more of a contribution of Pacific in those spaces.

One of the other areas is the whole cultural responsiveness and understanding of Pacific communities and our athletes. A lot of research is telling us when there’s a connection in those spaces, whether it’s in corporate or in sport, there’s a huge lift of performance. Really when you think about how do we do this, what’s in the Pacific space. How do we do that in the rugby space? Part of my role is looking at how do we lift the capacity of Pacific people coming into those non-playing roles.

Blues centre Eroni Clarke is wrapped up by the Sharks defence in the first Super Rugby final at Eden Park in 1996.

What did it mean for you when rugby went professional in 1996 with Super 12 and the Blues?

One week we’re working nine to five and providing for the family and you’d go to training Tuesday, Thursday nights and the game on Saturday, then all of a sudden overnight we’re suddenly five days a week with the team and playing on the Saturday. It’s quite incredible. All of a sudden we don’t have to work in that capacity any more. Rugby, the thing we’re passionate about, becomes our way of living and our way to make a living. It was so surreal because we didn’t know what professional rugby what it was going to be like. For a player you kind of try to approach it like you always do. The wonderful thing I loved about Auckland and combining with the likes of Counties in those early days and other provincial unions, Auckland was already in a sense professional in its attitude and approach. That was widely because of the coaches we had.

The Blues beat the Hurricanes in Palmerston North in the first Super Rugby game in history. What sticks out the most from that night?

I certainly remember my cousin Alama Ieremia scoring the first try, thinking what happened there. It was a titanic battle. The Hurricanes were leading at halftime and it was quite a physical battle. Probably one of the things I really did notice over the pre-season leading into that first game was physically how much stronger we were because you were able to put more time into the preparation. Guys’ physiques, then they introduced supplements and Creatine and protein powders, all sorts of things. It just kind of culminated to that night that it started. It was incredible. I could really sense that lift from the year before in 1995 to the changes that professional rugby had brought in, in that first round in the Hurricanes game.

Eroni Clarke celebrates with fans after the Blues took out the first title in Super Rugby history in 1996.

The Blues were blessed with leaders like Sean Fitzpatrick, Zinzan Brooke and Michael Jones. How critical were they to your on-field success?

We talked about not having one captain on the team, but we talked about having 15 leaders on the field. Some of these people were big personalities of the game as well. Jonah [Lomu] was obviously our first superstar of the game. He was the best of us all. There was such a great respect for one another and the admiration we had for all and one another as not just Blues players, or All Blacks, but more importantly as people. I think that was the wonderful thing.

You really grew to know one another because you’re around each other a lot more. When you really start to go through some of the challenges and the Blues certainly experienced their own challenges through that time together and it really pulled us together as a team and even more so as people as well. I believe some of those moments, the tough times, really did culminate to us winning Super Rugby in the end.

As a centre what was it like having the great Jonah Lomu and Joeli Vidiri on either wing with the Blues?

I was so fortunate. Your work was made a lot easier with a couple of wingers, you didn’t have to make space for them. You didn’t have to put them into space. You just had to give them the ball and what Jonah and Joeli could do was just incredible, which made them world leaders in their positions. I think that’s been the wonderful thing. It’s one of the things we used to talk about during the week was how many times we could get the ball to Jonah and Joeli in a game.

The Blues celebrate after overcoming the Sharks in the first final in Super Rugby history in 1996.

We knew as incredible as they were, if we didn’t get the ball into their hands as quickly as possible and a number of times, it’s easy for any player to kind of drift. It was something we talked about a lot. How we’re going to do it, when we’re going to do it, getting the ball into Jonah and Joeli’s hands.

What’s your favourite Jonah memory?

Michael Jones, Eroni Clarke, and Johnny Ngauamo celebrate in the changing room after the Blues’ title win over the Sharks in 1996.

He was planning to get married and a whole lot of us … we cottoned on he was going to get married and so we went over to his place. We pretty much kidnapped him, tied him up and gave him a good hiding and all sorts of other things you do to a bachelor preparing for his wedding and we absolutely trashed him.

After that he was chasing us around beating us all up as he does. No-one could run away from him. That was a great night we had just to celebrate him as well. We’ve lost some great men and women in the game. It’s so wonderful in ways we can continue to honour their contribution to the game. What they brought to the game as well. When I think about someone like Jonah. What we do and how we do it, the Blues the way they play really does honour the memories of some of these great players.

Eroni Clarke sings the national anthem before the All Blacks test against Australia at Eden Park in September.

The Blues beat the Natal Sharks 45-21 in the first Super Rugby final in 1996 at Eden Park. What do you remember most about that title win?

It was an incredible day. The whole day was just electric. Other than the semifinal I had never ever felt a crowd like that at Eden Park. I must admit where we really got a sense we could win this final was in South Africa against Natal in the last game of round-robin. Because we lost to the Lions earlier in the week, who were at the bottom of the table, that put us third. We had to win this last game against Natal in Durban. I managed to score a last gasp try at the end of that game, so it could spark off having a home semi, which we went on to win.

It’s what happened within the team. After coming off a loss to Gauteng [Lions] we had a real hard soul-searching time as a team and it really pulled us together to winning that game against Natal at Durban. Having that win it set us up so well for the home semifinal against Northern Transvaal. Then we just rode that momentum and wave into the final. Coming into that we had this quiet confidence. We know how to beat these guys and of course it all just came together beautifully.

An emotional Caleb Clarke tears up as father Eroni Clarke sings the national anthem before the Rugby Championship match against Australia last year.

What made the Blues such a dominant force in the early years of Super Rugby?

Whether it’s a sports team, whether it’s a corporate team. It’s all those things that make a team successful. It’s that mutual understanding. It’s that mutual respect. It’s having the same desire and the same focus, all moving in the same direction. Having the right leaders was really, really important. Having the right coaches. There was a mutual respect in a way that yes, these are not kids. They’re men who have played the game for a while, so there was this facilitation of all these kind of things that culminated into having such a team of leaders that were able to contribute and the coaches allowing that contribution of ideas and thoughts that came together.

Eroni Clarke on the charge in his second test for the All Blacks against the World XV at Eden Park in 1992.

Also on the field was really important and how important those people were with their leadership and the trust the coaches had to the players understanding, ‘Hey, this is not working. What do we need to do while we’re on the field right here and right now’. The team were really able to adapt to the opposition really quickly. Ted [coach Sir Graham Henry] and [assistant] Mac McCallion had done their homework in helping us to prepare and then it just came down to the players and how we executed that on the field. There was such a high calibre of skills and everything else. The determination and intelligence on the field that we were able to get the results and outcome we wanted.

You sung the national anthem before the All Blacks’ test against Australia at Eden Park last year. What’s your singing background?

We grew up in church and that’s where it all starts for us. Kevin Nepia and Glen Osborne and myself I think we did Christmas in the Park one time. Myself, Kevin Nepia and Glen Osborne, the three rugby All Black tenors. It was always just one of those things we did, even within the team. We had boys with the guitars. It’s always been something I’ve loved doing. It’s really funny. When you’re standing on the field as a player and they’re doing the national anthem it was always something in the back of my mind. Because I loved music and singing, I thought, ‘Could I do that one day?’. I’d done the Masked Singer [TV show], then our events team obviously saw that and they started to tempt me. ‘Would I come and do the national anthem?’.

How were your nerves?

I was really, really nervous. I was standing there waiting to be ushered onto the park and that imposter syndrome is real. I was like, ‘Don’t forget the words’. ‘What am I doing here? ‘This is crazy’. ‘This is insane’ As soon as we were ushered on I moved towards the podium to start to prepare and oh my goodness, I just thought, ‘Here we go. It’s now’. With the team you’re okay. You’re amongst the players, but doing the national anthem right then and there, I realised it’s all you man.

Your son Caleb was playing for the All Blacks and had no idea you were singing the anthem. How did you keep it secret from him?

Even the All Blacks management did ask me because they obviously knew I was doing the anthem, they asked me, ‘Are you going to tell him?’ I said, ‘No, don’t tell him’. It would be the worst thing to do. He’ll be thinking about it through the week. He’d be looking for me at the park as they’re warming up. I said ‘No, it’s better we just surprise him’.

One of the most memorable things for me of that moment on that field was when I walked off, I just thought to turn to my right and there he was. They were moving across to do the haka and our eyes connected and he ran over to me. Just in that moment as a father I was able to hold him and say, ‘All the best’. He said, ‘Dad, you didn’t tell me’ and I said ‘That’s right son, but it’s your turn now. Go out there and give it your best’.

What do you cherish most about your time with the All Blacks?

The first All Blacks game I watched was the All Blacks game at Eden Park. It was flooded and they were playing Scotland [in 1975] and dad said ‘Watch the No 11’. Of course that was Tuifaʻasisina Sir Bryan Williams, who scored a couple of tries in that game and that’s where my dream started. When I played my first run-on game for the All Blacks it was against the World XV and we were celebrating 100 years of All Blacks rugby. That was probably one of the greatest moments of my rugby career and that we’d won that game quite convincingly, scored a couple of tries in that game, which was even more memorable and of course singing the national anthem with the team as a player and All Black was incredible. That was probably one of my most memorable ones.

One of the other memorable ones was having been apart of the All Blacks for four-five years and my first game back [in 1998 after being recalled] just through all of the challenges as what life does bring you, being able to come back and play and pull that jersey on again, that was even probably more memorable because of the journey to get to the jersey again. Of course one of my other great proud moments is obviously seeing my son playing.