Caleb Ralph

Caleb Ralph
Birth nameCaleb Stan Ralph
Date of birth (1977-09-10) 10 September 1977 (age 47)
Place of birthRotorua, New Zealand
Height187 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight93 kg (14 st 9 lb; 205 lb)
SchoolWestern Heights High School
Occupation(s)Professional rugby union footballer
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre, wing
Provincial / State sides
Years Team Apps (Points)
1996–97 Bay of Plenty 25 ()
1998–99 Auckland 17 ()
2000–06 Canterbury 66 ()
2007 Tasman 6 (0)
Super Rugby
Years Team Apps (Points)
1997 Chiefs 3 (15)
1998–99 Blues 6 (15)
2000–09 Crusaders 126 (260)
2011 Reds 1 (0)
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1998–2003 New Zealand 14 (45)
– New Zealand Māori 13
National sevens team
Years Team Comps
1996–2000 New Zealand 7s
Medal record
Men's rugby sevens
Representing  New Zealand
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 1998 Kuala Lumpur Team competition

Caleb Stan Ralph (born 10 September 1977 in Rotorua) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer. Ralph began his first-class career with Bay of Plenty, then moved to Auckland before heading to Canterbury. He started his Super Rugby career with the Chiefs in 1997, Blues (1998–1999), Crusaders (2000–2008) and a cameo role with the Queensland Reds (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 in 2002, and was a member of the New Zealand team during the 2003 Rugby World Cup. In 2006 he gained his 100th consecutive super rugby cap.

He made the New Zealand sevens side while still at Western Heights High School, Rotorua. He has since regularly represented New Zealand in Rugby sevens 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.

Ralph is fifth on the all-time list of Super Rugby try scorers, five tries behind TJ Perenara, 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.[1] 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, Queensland Reds coach Ewen McKenzie 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's then-record of 136 Super Rugby games.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Ex-All Black joins Japan's Sanix". Daily Yomuiri Online. 8 May 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2008. [dead link‍]
  2. ^ "Chiefs vs. Reds, Round 18, 2011 Match Report". New Zealand Herald – nzherald.co.nz. 18 June 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
Awards
Preceded by Tom French Memorial
Māori rugby union player of the year
2001 		Succeeded by