Luke Romano (born 16 February 1986) 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 who plays as a

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

for the

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 ...

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

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 ...

in the

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in traditional Christianity. Mi ...

. He played 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 ...

from 2012 - 2017 and was a key member of

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

winning team.

Career

Romano is a

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 ...

international, making his debut on 23 June 2012 in a 60–0 win against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

. He currently has over 30 caps and has scored 2 tries. Romano was a regular starter for the early stages of his international career, but missed many opportunities to play through injuries which saw his starting spot taken by

Brodie Retallick Brodie Allan Retallick (born 31 May 1991) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer, who currently plays as a lock for Kobelco Kobe Steelers in the Japan Rugby League One competition. He previously played for the Chiefs in Super Rugby and in N ...

. Romano only played one international match in 2014, a 24-16 victory over Scotland off the bench. Romano's return from injury in 2015 saw him named in the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Romano earned starts against Namibia and Tonga in the tournament, with both fixtures being victories for New Zealand. Romano had good form throughout Super Rugby in 2016, allowing him to start against Wales for the first test of the year. He missed the end of year fixtures however, allowing Scott Barrett to make his debut for New Zealand after coming into the squad as injury cover for Romano and Sam Whitelock. After returning to rugby in the 2017 Brisbane Global Rugby Tens, Romano lost his regular starting spot in the Crusaders to Barrett in 2017. Romano started against the touring

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

team in a 3-12 loss that year however, due to injury to Barrett. Romano reverted to a regular role off the bench upon Barrett's return from injury and was used as a replacement in all three of the knockout rounds of the

2017 Super Rugby season The 2017 Super Rugby season was the 22nd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It was the second season featuring an expanded ...

, including the 25-17 winning final against the

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. Romano was retained for the

2017 Rugby Championship The 2017 Rugby Championship was the sixth edition of the expanded annual southern hemisphere The Rugby Championship, Rugby Championship, featuring Argentina national rugby union team, Argentina, Australia national rugby union team, Australia, Sout ...

, and was used as a replacement in the record 54-34 in over Australia to open the competition. Romano went on to make five more appearances for the All Blacks in 2017, starting in all of them after Retallick opted not to play any more rugby in 2017 for personal reasons. Those fixtures were two wins against Argentina in the Rugby Championship and against the Barbarians, France and Scotland on the end-of-year tour. The test cap against Scotland on 19 November 2017 was Romano’s last All Black appearance as he was ruled out for the year's final test against Wales due to illness and not selected for the All Blacks in the 2018 or subsequent seasons. In 2022, the 35 year old Romano was not reselected for the Crusaders team. He was instead picked up, by the rival Blues, to bolster the number of experienced players in their line-up. On 15 April 2022, he helped the Blues to their first win over his old team the Crusaders at Christchurch in 18 years. Romano continues to play for the Canterbury NPC team.

Personal life

Romano did not play international rugby for the Autumn Internationals in 2016 due to the death of a relative. Romano is a qualified builder and he is of Italian heritage through his grandfather. Romano is married and has two sons.

References

External links

*
Luke Romano itsrugby.co.uk Player Statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romano, Luke 1986 births New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand people of Italian descent New Zealand international rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players Canterbury rugby union players Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Nelson, New Zealand Living people Blues (Super Rugby) players 2015 Rugby World Cup players People educated at Christchurch Boys' High School 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen