Carlos James Spencer (born 14 October 1975) is a former 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 ...

player and previously the head coach of the and the . He is currently an assistant coach for the New Orleans Gold of

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR) is a professional rugby union competition in the United States. The league comprises 11 teams. While operating outside of the governance and oversight of the national governing body, the league is officially sanctioned ...

(MLR). During his playing days, he played at fly-half (first five-eighth) for the

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and Lions in

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 ...

and for New Zealand internationally.

Provincial and club career

He generally specialised in the position of fly-half, also known as " first five-eighth" or "number 10", although he also played fullback (number 15) at national and international levels. Spencer first rose to prominence when he starred alongside Christian Cullen in a Ranfurly Shield challenge in 1994, playing for the Horowhenua team against Auckland. Auckland coach Graham Henry spotted Spencer's talent and recruited him to play for the Auckland team. He played for the

Super 12 team from the inception of the competition in 1996 until 2005, and for the

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 ...

NPC side. In 1996, Spencer played for the Blues in the first ever Super 12-match, kicking off the professional era of rugby union. He went on to score 608 points for the Blues in the

competition. In 2005, he signed to the English club,

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

, where he stayed until 30 January 2009. On 3 February 2009, he signed for Gloucester on a 17-month contract. In January 2010, Spencer signed with the Johannesburg-based Golden Lions, to play for the team in the 2010 and 2011 Super Rugby seasons. The contract offered to him was said at the time to be the highest ever in South Africa. He subsequently took up a coaching role with the team, before being released following the 2012 season. He moved to the

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

-based for the 2013 season. In December 2013, he signed a five-year contract to become the kicking and specialist skills coach at

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

-based side, the . He was appointed as their head coach on 20 February 2014. He was in charge for just one

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

season,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, where they achieved just one victory in ten matches. Brent Janse van Rensburg was appointed as head coach for the 2015 Currie Cup Premier Division season with Spencer reverting to kicking and specialist skills coach. However, Spencer left the coaching staff a month later. In May 2025, Spencer was named head coach of Terenure College RFC in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland, in what was considered a major coup for the All-Ireland League club.

International career

Spencer first played for the All Blacks in a non-test tour match on 4 November 1995, but did not play his first test match until 1997. His test debut was against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

at Athletic Park in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

on 21 June that year. He scored 33 points in that match alone. His All Black appearances as a starter were somewhat irregular thereafter, as

Andrew Mehrtens Andrew Philip Mehrtens (born 28 April 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He was regarded as a top first five-eighth, having played first for Canterbury in 1993, before being selected for the All Blacks (New Zealand's national ...

was generally preferred as the first-choice flyhalf for the side during the period from 1995 to 2002. He was selected for the 1999 All Blacks World Cup squad but became injured in training at London, so did not play a match in that tournament. However, following an exceptional season for the Blues in Super 12, Spencer became first-choice first five-eighth for the All Blacks in 2003, and was a part of the squad for the

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

that year. In 2004, Carlos Spencer struggled to find the same form he had displayed the previous year, and Mehrtens replaced him for the final game of that year's Tri Nations. He was then ruled out of the final All Black tour of the year through injury. In 2005, Spencer lost form early in the Super 12 competition and then suffered a fractured cheekbone in training. He agreed to play for the New Zealand Māori (in his 10th match for that team) against the touring Lions, but made himself unavailable for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

so that he would not miss training for his new English club,

. As a player, Spencer was valued for his imaginative kicking and passing game, and his ability to unlock defences. He was also a handy, if not entirely reliable, goal kicker. Only five players have scored more test points than Spencer for New Zealand — Daniel Carter 1,598,

967, Grant Fox 645,

Beauden Barrett Beauden John Barrett (born 27 May 1991) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a First five-eighth or Fullback for the Blues in Super Rugby and Taranaki in the Bunnings NPC. Barrett won the World Rugby Player of the Year awards ...

465, and most recently, Aaron Cruden 322.

Boxing

On 3 December 2011, Spencer stepped into the boxing ring against

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

's Awen Guttenbeil in Fight for Life 2011 in

, New Zealand. The fight was controversially ruled a draw despite Spencer knocking down Guttenbeil with seconds remaining on the last round.

Awards and honours

In 2006, Spencer was named in the

Guinness Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

Awards Dream Team and collected the Player of the Year award for the 2005–06 season at the Northampton Saints annual awards, as voted for by the club's fans. He played in four matches for Bob Dwyer's World XV team in 2006, including a match for the

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against England at

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on 28 May and a 30–27 loss to the Springboks at Ellis Park on 3 June.

Personal life

He married Jodene Spencer. Their son Payton Spencer is an international rugby player for

New Zealand Sevens The New Zealand national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. They have won a record 14 World Rugby Sevens Series titles. The team played for the ...

. His daughter, Asha is 16 as of 2024.

Match Fit

Spencer made his debut for Match Fit: Union vs. League.In 2024, he made his debut with Paul Whatuira and Louis Anderson in Match Fit: Union vs. League. Whatuira also beat Spencer in a charity Fight For Life boxing match. Spencer and Pita Alatini both maxed out the metabolic age potential to -15 against their biological ages. Despite this: It was revealed that both he and Louis Anderson have a family history of high blood cholesterol despite having lower metabolic age than biological age and are two of the fittest in the group. At the final weigh in, however, he also gained the perfect score for percentage of visceral fat for males at 4%. Mentally: He had polarized the nation as he was one of the first ball-dominant fly halves in New Zealand, playing more like a scrum half than a first five-eighth. He was also never known as a reliable kicker, which is an expected role of a traditional first five-eighth. Due to his playstyle and his competitiveness, he shut down when things don't go well rather than risking an angry vent. He also received online and media abuse against him. During the IronMaori's triathlon, he covered for Paul Miller as a biker (with Frank Bunce)and runner (with Pita Alatini). He led the Union team to beat Team League in triathlon.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Carlos 1975 births Living people New Zealand international rugby union players Māori All Blacks players New Zealand rugby union coaches New Zealand rugby union players Auckland rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union fullbacks Northampton Saints players Barbarian F.C. players Sportspeople from Levin, New Zealand Gloucester Rugby players Horowhenua-Kapiti rugby union players Ponsonby RFC players 1999 Rugby World Cup players 2003 Rugby World Cup players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in England