Craig David Wickes (born 26 February 1962) is a former

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

rugby player. He is notable as being the second-youngest

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

ever and the only player selected while still at high school.

Career

Wickes was born in Whakatane and his family moved to Palmerston North when he was around 10. He attended Palmerston North Boys' High School. He was also a sprinter, with best times of 10.9 seconds for the 100m sprint and 23.0 seconds for 200m. He was selected as a winger for the Manawatu rugby team in 1979, aged 17, and also played for

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. In 1980 he was selected as a reserve for the All Black team to play a non-test match against Fiji at Auckland on 13 September 1980 (making him 18 years 200 days). The selection policy for this match excluded all players who had played against Australia and

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earlier in the season. He replaced injured winger Ken Taylor with 14 minutes remaining in the game, but made little impact. In 1981 he sustained a series of knee injuries which prevented him from going further. He returned to the Manawatu squad for four games in 1986, but a recurrence of the knee injuries ended his career.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wickes, Craig 1962 births Living people New Zealand international rugby union players Rugby union players from Whakatāne Rugby union players from Palmerston North People educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School Manawatu rugby union players Rugby union centres Rugby union wings