Jeff Wilson (sportsman)
Jeffrey William Wilson (born October 24, 1973) is a New Zealand sportsman who has represented his country in both rugby union and cricket—a so-called "Double All Black", an increasingly rare achivement in the professional era. He is also a talented basketballer and won national secondary school titles in track and field.
Wilson was born in Invercargill and educated at Cargill College, where in one rugby game he scored nine tries and a total of 66 points. He played for the national secondary schools side against Australia in 1992. His blonde hair earned him the nickname "Goldie".
Jeff Wilson is married to Adine Harper, captain of the New Zealand netball team.
Rugby career
Wilson was first selected for the All Blacks tour to Britain in 1993, making his debut as an All Black against London and SE Division on October 23, 1993 and his test debut against Scotland on November 20, 1993, scoring three tries in that game.
He played a total of 71 games for the All Blacks, including 60 tests, in the positions of Winger and Fullback. In test matches he scored a total of 234 points: 44 tries, 1 conversion, 3 penalty goals, and 1 drop goal. Wilson played Super 12 rugby for the Highlanders and NPC rugby for Otago. He announced his retirement at the end of the 2000 Super 12 series, but made a comeback in 2001, playing another 6 test matches before finally retiring in 2002 at the age of 28.
Cricket career
Wilson played his provincial cricket for Otago, as an all-rounder – both a hard-hitting batsman and a right-arm fast-medium pace bowler.
His international appearances were in four games of a series of one-day internationals against Australia in the 1992–93 season, and a full 12 years later, after his Rugby career. Although his statistics are not particularly impressive (103 runs at an average of 20.60 and a strike rate of 92 for batting, and 4 wickets at an economy rate of 6.44 runs per over in bowling), he played a crucial role in a couple of the games. The arrival of the Super 12 rugby competition (which overlaps the cricket season by more than six weeks) forced him to decide which international career to pursue.
Since his retirement from rugby, Wilson resumed playing cricket at the provincial level and on January 12, 2005, was selected once again for the Black Caps team to play a series of one-day games against a World XI in January (although he did not make the on-field team). Selected later in the season his form fell away and his last ODI (to date) was played against Australia in Wellington on 1 March 2005.