Christian Lio-Willie: a dental degree for mum, then the All Blacks No 8 jersey

In November 2021 a 23-year-old Aucklander sat the last exam of a five-year dental degree at the University of Otago, then turned his full attention to rugby. Less than four years later he was running out at No 8 for the All Blacks. Christian Lio-Willie, 28, has three Tests, two Super Rugby titles with the Crusaders and the Otago captaincy to his name, and on Sunday morning NZ time he sits on the All Blacks bench at Murrayfield. He is also, still, a registered dentist.

Where he comes from

Lio-Willie was born in Auckland on 26 August 1998. His parents moved to New Zealand from Samoa, he told Stuff in 2021, in search of opportunities for their children, and he grew up in the "run it straight" rugby culture of Auckland. His heroes were the great Samoan-heritage loose forwards of his childhood. "Waking up to watch Jerome Kaino and Jerry Collins" is how he described it to Stuff, and the player he modelled himself on was Ardie Savea, for the way he carries the ball and the way he conducts himself off the field.

He went to Massey High School in West Auckland. RUGBE could not find a published record of his junior club in Auckland or of his First XV years at Massey, and there is no record of New Zealand Schools honours.

What is on record is the family rule that shaped the next six years. Out of school, he said, he had chances to play rugby elsewhere, but his parents insisted that he finish a degree first. His guiding principle, as Stuff put it in a story the school later shared with its community: "Listen to mum."

Dunedin, dentistry and Kaikorai

At 18 Lio-Willie moved to Dunedin to study dentistry at the University of Otago. 1News later described him as having been lured south from Massey to play for the Kaikorai club, and Kaikorai is the club New Zealand Rugby lists as the one he was selected from as an All Black.

For most of his twenties he was a student first. Otago named him in their wider training squad in 2020 without giving him a game, and in 2021 he was still turning out for Kaikorai while working through the fifth year of his degree.

His provincial debut finally came on 7 August 2021, off the bench against Southland. With two minutes left he made a charging break that set up the winning try in a 26-19 win. The Otago Daily Times would later say that a year earlier he had been "just plugging away at club level".

By November he was Otago's first-choice No 8, filling the gap left when Dylan Nel went to Japan. Otago beat Manawatu 44-16 in Palmerston North in the Championship semi-final and lost the final 32-19 to Taranaki. Around the same time he sat his final dentistry exams. "She's happy now, so now I can make dad happy with the rugby," he told Stuff.

From the Highlanders to the Crusaders

Two Super Rugby clubs had noticed the Otago No 8. The Crusaders wanted him in Christchurch for their 2022 pre-season, but the Highlanders came up with a more compelling offer, the ODT reported, and he signed in Dunedin. A fractured bone in his hand during pre-season held him back, and he made two appearances for the Highlanders late in the season.

The Crusaders had not gone away. "But Razor kept in contact," Lio-Willie told the ODT, referring to Scott Robertson, and Moana Pasifika were also interested. In July 2022 he signed a two-year deal with the Crusaders, who saw him as a possible replacement for the Argentine flanker Pablo Matera. "I've been down here six years in Dunedin," he explained; it was time to move on.

By then he was a qualified dental surgeon, and he joked to the ODT that he had "the skills to take teeth out painlessly". He planned to keep working part-time as a dentist in Christchurch to hold on to his registration. At the end of 2022 he toured the northern hemisphere with the All Blacks XV for the first time.

Two titles in red and black

Lio-Willie became Crusader No 268 in 2023 and played all 17 games of his first season. On 24 June 2023 he started at No 8 in the final against the Chiefs at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton, and played the whole match as the Crusaders won 25-20 for their seventh straight title. He went to Japan with the All Blacks XV that July and played two matches.

Back in Dunedin, he was becoming the heartbeat of the Otago pack. The Crusaders' own profile says he was Otago's most valuable player in both 2023 and 2024; the 2024 award is confirmed by the Otago Rugby Football Union, and the ODT reported that season that the Otago men's captain "smashed his way forward more than anyone else in the Otago side".

The 2024 Super Rugby season was harder. An ankle injury cost him a chunk of the middle of the year, though he still scored five tries, two of them against the Melbourne Rebels in Christchurch. In October 2024 he re-signed with the Crusaders through to 2027. Head coach Rob Penney called him "a special man" and added: "His intellect and work ethic are highly regarded."

That same month he was asked to travel to Japan with the All Blacks as training cover before linking up with the All Blacks XV in Ireland. It was his first taste of the Test environment.

The All Blacks

The 2025 Super Rugby season was the one that changed everything. Lio-Willie was the Crusaders' No 8 as they won their 13th title, beating the Chiefs 16-12 in the final at Apollo Projects Stadium in Christchurch on 21 June 2025. He played all 80 minutes on a 3-degree night.

He was not in Robertson's original All Blacks squad, but he was called in as injury cover almost immediately, and with Wallace Sititi ruled out of the July series with an ankle injury, Robertson picked him to start at No 8 against France in Dunedin. "I just sort of numbed out," he told RNZ of hearing the news. Asked why, Robertson told 1News: "His performances over the season, especially the last few weeks."

Before the Test, Savea, the reigning World Rugby Player of the Year and the man he had grown up watching, had a short message for him: "Do your thing, uce." Lio-Willie told 1News: "Words like that mean to the world to someone like me."

On 5 July 2025, under the roof at Forsyth Barr Stadium, he became All Black No 1225, in a back row with Savea and Tupou Vaa'i. Lock Fabian Holland debuted alongside him; the pair had made their Otago debuts in the same season, which Lio-Willie called a full-circle moment. The All Blacks won 31-27. A week later he started again at No 8 in Wellington, a 43-17 win. He was named on the bench for the third Test in Hamilton but was not used.

Otago's Shield season

He went home to Otago for the 2025 NPC. Otago took the Ranfurly Shield from Canterbury with a 38-36 win in Christchurch on 20 September, and Lio-Willie scored in their first defence a week later, a 41-26 win over North Harbour in Dunedin. He scored again in the 41-17 semi-final win over Bay of Plenty and started at No 8 in the final on 25 October, which Canterbury won 36-28.

He then joined the All Blacks XV on their northern tour. When Luke Jacobson (concussion) and Samipeni Finau went home from the All Blacks' tour, he was called across, and on 22 November 2025 he came off the bench in Cardiff as the All Blacks beat Wales 52-26 in the last Test of the year.

2026: a captain, and back in black

In April 2026, with David Havili in concussion protocols, Penney named Lio-Willie captain of the Crusaders for the Round 10 match against the Western Force in Perth. "First of all, he plays like a leader," Penney said. "He's a genuine, lovely man and the boys love playing for him." Lio-Willie admitted the job "wasn't in the plan", adding: "I've got to lead myself first before I lead others." The Force came back from 19-0 down to win 31-26. The Crusaders' season ended in a semi-final defeat to the Chiefs.

He was not part of new head coach Dave Rennie's squads for the July Nations Championship Tests, the tour of South Africa or the Bledisloe Cup, though Rennie said later that there had been serious discussions about taking him to South Africa. Instead he led Otago through the NPC. Among the competition's loose forwards he was second for tries (six in 12 games, behind team-mate Lucas Casey) and second for metres run, according to RUGBE's NPC statistics. He scored in the 50-14 quarter-final win over Hawke's Bay, and scored again in the semi-final in Whangarei on 16 October, muscling over just before half-time to put Otago ahead, though Northland pulled away to win 38-19.

On 27 October Rennie named him in the 36-man squad for the northern tour, one of four players joining the group, alongside George Bell, Saula Ma'u and Leicester Faingaʻanuku. "They have all shown fantastic form during the NPC," Rennie said. Of Lio-Willie in particular, he told reporters: "He's really tough. He's got a big engine, a really high skill-set." When the team for Scotland was named on 5 November, he was on the bench, wearing 19, in place of the injured Shannon Frizell.

Style and standing

Lio-Willie is a ball-carrying No 8 in the tradition he grew up admiring. Listed at 1.89m and 111kg, he is "not particularly big" for a Test loose forward, 1News noted before his debut, but it called him a specialist in the position, and the ODT has described his job for Otago as getting the side across the gain line. Robertson picked him on the strength of a title-winning season; Penney praises his intellect, his work ethic and his leadership; and Otago have made him their captain and, twice according to the Crusaders, their most valuable player.

His own words, on his Crusaders profile, are about the jersey rather than himself. Playing for the club, he says, means carrying on "a legacy that was left behind by so many greats".

Off the field

Lio-Willie is a registered dentist, and the Crusaders say he works regularly at a local dental clinic to keep up his professional development. When he is not playing or practising, his club profile says, he goes fishing for kahawai and plays guitar and piano and sings.

Where he is now

He is contracted to the Crusaders until the end of 2027 and is in their squad for next season. On Sunday 8 November (NZ time) he is on the bench against Scotland at Murrayfield, chasing a fourth Test cap, with Wales and England to follow and the Nations Championship finals weekend at Twickenham at the end of the month.

Career at a glance

Test figures are from RUGBE's match-by-match All Blacks data to 17 October 2026.