Club Rugby Unearthed 005: Cory Jane

A series on Club Rugby’s social media channels throughout the first half of this season celebrating many of the players to have played to a high level who have largely come through club rugby and mostly not played in NZ school or age grade teams along the way.

Fullback/wing Cory Jane will need no introduction, from Upper Hutt and a former student of Heretaunga College, he left school and joined the Stokes Valley club and subsequently the Upper Hutt club, winning a Swindale Shield in 2005 and playing for them when he could over the remainder of his career that saw him rise to the Wellington Lions, the Hurricanes and the All Blacks. He was a RWC winner in 2011. Still heavily involved in rugby as a coach at the Hurricanes.

Club Rugby Unearthed is in association with our longtime sponsor and partner of the game at the local level Rob Law Max.

Read Cory Jane’s Hurricanes A-Z bio, as composed by Club Rugby in 2015:

Cory Jane played his 50^th Test in 2014, completing a solid comeback from a serious knee injury in 2013 that had forced him on to the sideline for nine months.

He was later left out of the 2015 RWC squad but played a full season at fullback for the Wellington Lions, impressing with his silky skills and class touches.

Previously, Jane’s rise to being one of the world’s premier wing three-quarters was complete by the time he collected his Rugby World Cup winner’s medal in October 2011. Jane had an outstanding tournament, capped by a Player of the Match performance against Australia in the semi-final. An excellent finisher and rock-steady defender, Jane was also one of the best in the business under the high ball.

Jane completed a whirlwind 2006 year when he was named the Wellington Player of the Year. An exciting attacking fullback or wing with speed to burn and a penchant for the tryline, Jane’s rise continued in 2007 with an outstanding debut Super 14 season for the Hurricanes. Playing at fullback in all 13 matches, he was always dangerous and scored three tries and was directly involved in several more.

He sprang to prominence at the start of 2006 for the New Zealand Sevens team, making a popular hometown debut at the Wellington leg of the IRB Sevens in February. It got even hotter for the Heretaunga hare in March when he won a gold medal with the team at the Melbourne Commonwealth games in March, scoring the first try in the final against England.

More Sevens heaven came for Jane at the Hong Kong and Singapore tournaments, ahead of international fifteen-a-side selection with the New Zealand Maori, scoring a hat trick in the Maori team’s win over the United States.

He played a full season for the Wellington Lions in the NPC, and was the top try scorer with six in 12 matches played. He backed that up in 2007 with a second impressive season for the Lions, and earned another twelve caps for the Hurricanes in 2008.

A Wellington age group representative in 2002 and 2003, Jane was first selected for Wellington in 2003 and played nine games as loan player for Hawke’s Bay in 2004 before returning to the Lions.

In April 2007 Jane was crowned Upper Hutt Sportsman of the Year to go with his Wellington rugby award, and in May donned his third international jersey when he played for the Junior All Blacks in the IRB Pacific Nations tournament.

His steady rise was complete at the end of 2008 when he was selected for the All Blacks Spring tour off the back of another stunning NPC making his Test debut against Australia in Hong Kong.