Caleb Stan Ralph (born 10 September 1977 in

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. It is sited on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authorities of New Zea ...

) is a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer. Ralph began his first-class career with

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty () is a large bight (geography), bight along the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stretches from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. Called ''Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi'' (the Ocean ...

, then moved to

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

before heading to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

. He started his

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

career with the Chiefs in 1997,

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

(1998–1999),

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

(2000–2008) and a cameo role with the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team based in Brisbane for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union ...

(2011). He made his All Black debut while playing for Auckland in 1998. After an absence from the national team of three years he was recalled in 2001, and was a regular member of the All Blacks throughout the 2002 and 2003 seasons, playing a total of 13 tests and scoring eight tries, including a hat-trick against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in 2002, and was a member of the New Zealand team during the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...

. In 2006 he gained his 100th consecutive super rugby cap. He made the New Zealand sevens side while still at Western Heights High School,

. He has since regularly represented

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

between 1996 and 2000 playing with Eric Rush and was a member of the gold medal-winning New Zealand team at the

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ( Malay: ), officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games (Malay: ), were a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 1998 games were the first held in Asia and the last Commonwealth Games of the 20th cen ...

. Ralph is sixth on the all-time list of

try scorers, five tries behind

TJ Perenara Thomas Tekanapu Rawakata Perenara (born 23 January 1992), commonly known as TJ Perenara, is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a half-back for the Black Rams Tokyo in the Japan Rugby League One. He has previously played for the Hu ...

, and he still holds the record for consecutive Super Rugby appearances with 104. Ralph won the Canterbury Maori Trophy on 10 December 2005. In 2008 he signed up to play with Japanese club Fukuoka Sanix Blues. In 2010 he signed with the Australian club Sunshine Coast Stingrays. The following year in the final round of the regular

2011 Super Rugby season The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16t ...

coach

Ewen McKenzie Ewen James Andrew McKenzie (born 21 June 1965) is an Australian professional rugby union coach and a former international rugby player. He played for Australia national rugby union team, Australia's World Cup winning team in 1991 and earned 51 ...

recruited Ralph on a short term contract to combat the side's injury crisis in the outside backs. In Round 18 he took the field in the 65th minute as a substitute and equalled

George Gregan George Musarurwa Gregan AM (born 19 April 1973) is a former rugby union player who played as scrum-half. Born in Lusaka, Zambia, Gregan represented Australia at an international level, and is Australia's second most capped player. He played S ...

's then-record of 136 Super Rugby games.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ralph, Caleb 1977 births Bay of Plenty rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Canterbury rugby union players Chiefs (Super Rugby) players Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Crusaders (rugby union) players Auckland rugby union players Tasman rugby union players 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Queensland Reds players Living people New Zealand international rugby union players Māori All Blacks players New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union players from Rotorua Rugby union centres Rugby union wings People educated at Western Heights High School New Zealand international rugby sevens players New Zealand male rugby sevens players Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for New Zealand Commonwealth Games gold medallists in rugby sevens Rugby sevens players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games 2003 Rugby World Cup players