Ethan Blackadder: the hunter who skipped the First XV and followed his father into black

On 16 June 2000 Todd Blackadder led the All Blacks out for the first time as captain, at North Harbour Stadium, and they beat Tonga 102-0. Twenty-one years later his son made his own Test debut against Tonga, at Mt Smart Stadium, and the All Blacks won 102-0 again. Those are the only two Tests in which the All Blacks have put 100 points on Tonga. Ethan Blackadder, 31, has 15 Tests, a Crusaders Player of the Year award and a long history of injuries, and he got to the top without ever playing in his school's First XV. This is the story of how a teenager who preferred hunting to rugby became an All Black.

Where he comes from

Blackadder was born in Rangiora, North Canterbury, on 22 March 1995. His father, Todd, played 12 Tests for the All Blacks between 1998 and 2000, captaining 10 of them, and was a Crusaders player, captain and later head coach. Ethan grew up around the game, and he started young. "I began at age 7 playing for a club called Woodend Rugby Club," he told the Tasman Mako website in 2016.

In 2006 the family moved north to Nelson, and he went to Nelson College. That is where the story takes its first unusual turn.

Nelson College and the years away

Nelson College has produced a long list of All Blacks, but Blackadder was never in its First XV. "In my younger years, I quite enjoyed my hunting and stuff," he told the Mako in 2016, and so he "just sort of stepped away from rugby". Jet boating and hunting are still what he lists when asked about life away from the game.

It was only after he left school that rugby took hold. In 2013, his first year out of college, he joined the Nelson club's senior B side and captained the Nelson Bays under-18 team. The following year he was in the club's top side. Then came the first of many setbacks: a stress fracture in his back in 2015 cut his season in half. "I see a setback as the start of a comeback," he said the next year, a line that would be tested more than once.

Tasman

In 2016 Blackadder was named in the Tasman Mako wider training group. He was not expected to play much, but when No 8 Vern Fredericks broke his thumb, the 21-year-old was called up for the fourth-round match against Otago in Dunedin. He came off the bench for the last 20 minutes of a 30-27 loss and became Mako No 146. He played the last seven games of the season in the back row.

He was already hearing about his surname. "I've driven my own pathway," he told the Mako. "He's my dad and no matter who he is, I just get stuck in."

In 2017 he added 7 kg in the off-season, helped co-lead Nelson to the Nelson Bays club championship and became Tasman's starting blindside flanker, alongside Fredericks and Jordan Taufua. His lineout work made him cover at lock as well. Tasman reached the Premiership final that year. In 2019 he scored tries in three of Tasman's matches as the Mako won their first national title, though he was not in the 23 for the 31-14 final win over Wellington at Trafalgar Park. Injury kept him out of the whole 2020 competition, when Tasman won again. Wikipedia counts 50 games and 45 points for the Mako.

The Crusaders

The Crusaders named Blackadder in their squad for 2018, and he made his debut in round 10 against the Sunwolves as Crusader No 220. At the end of the season he was the club's rookie of the year.

In the 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa final he played every minute of the 24-13 win over the Chiefs, the Crusaders' fifth straight title, and his team-mates voted him Champion Crusader of the Year. In 2022 he won both of the club's big awards, Player of the Year and Champion Crusader, but a shoulder problem cost him most of that season. When he re-signed in 2023, the Crusaders said he had been part of five title-winning teams.

In 2023 the injuries kept coming. Back from a calf injury, he lasted four minutes of the 2023 quarter-final against the Fijian Drua before a quadriceps strain ended his season. "He trained so hard to get back," said Scott Robertson, his coach at the Crusaders. Robertson had made his feelings plain when Blackadder re-signed that May: "Ethan represents everything that the Crusaders are."

Calf, shoulder and thigh injuries meant that his first game of 2024 was not until April, against the Waratahs in Sydney. "He brings an enormous spark to the group," said the new coach, Rob Penney. In 2025 Blackadder was named vice-captain under David Havili. "It was a huge honour when David asked me," he said. He came back from another injury for the final round in Canberra, and as he pointed out to 1News that week, it had taken him from 2018 to 2025 to reach 50 games for the club, while his old team-mate Taufua had played more than 100 in six seasons. "Ethan's Ethan, he has a massive motor," Penney said.

He started at blindside in the 2025 final on 21 June, which the Crusaders won 16-12 against the Chiefs in Christchurch. Weeks later he re-signed until the end of 2026. "There's no other team I'd rather be playing for; I just love the Crusaders," he said, and he called the title run "a campaign I'll never forget". Wikipedia counts 64 Crusaders games and 55 points to September 2026, and he is in the squad for 2027.

The All Blacks: 2021

In June 2021 Ian Foster picked Blackadder for the July Tests against Tonga and Fiji. On 3 July 2021 he came off the bench at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland in the 102-0 win and became All Black No 1195, the second Blackadder to play Test rugby for the All Blacks. A week later he started at openside against Fiji in Dunedin. The NZ Rugby match report credits him with a turnover that led to a David Havili try and a late charge that set up Will Jordan, in a 57-23 win.

He toured Australia for the Rugby Championship and kept his place. Against Argentina in Brisbane the official report called him a "non-stop blindside flanker", whose two breaks set up a try for Samisoni Taukei'aho. On 25 September in Townsville the All Blacks played the Springboks for the 100th time. He was named on the bench, but when Luke Jacobson, named at No 8, did not play, captain Ardie Savea moved to the back of the scrum and Blackadder started at No 7. Jordie Barrett kicked a 50-metre penalty in the 78th minute and the All Blacks won 19-17 to take the Rugby Championship.

On the end-of-year tour he started at blindside in a 54-16 win over Wales in Cardiff and in the 29-20 loss to Ireland in Dublin. That Dublin Test had a Nelson flavour: Blackadder and Havili were in black, and their fellow Nelson College old boy James Lowe was on the wing for Ireland. "There will be a bit of banter," the Tasman coach Andrew Goodman told 1News. A Stuff headline that October called Blackadder the All Blacks' "find of the year". He had played nine Tests in just over four months.

Injury, a World Cup and a second chance

He did not play a Test in 2022, and after his 2023 injuries he was not in the original World Cup squad. He went to France anyway, called in as injury cover when wing Emoni Narawa was ruled out, and played once: off the bench in the 73-0 pool win over Uruguay in Lyon on 5 October.

When Robertson took over the All Blacks in 2024, Blackadder played four Tests, all as a starter: against Fiji in San Diego, both Tests against Argentina, and the 31-27 loss to South Africa at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. Then he did not play another Test for two years. He was left out of Robertson's squad for the 2025 home series against France, named two days after he started the Super Rugby final.

Back under Rennie

Dave Rennie took charge of the All Blacks in 2026. Blackadder was not in the squad for the July Nations Championship Tests, but he was one of the returning All Blacks named in the 44-man squad for the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry tour of South Africa and the United States. "He has a massive engine, physically," Rennie said, adding that when Blackadder had played that year he had been "really impressive".

He came off the bench against the Stormers in Cape Town and the Sharks in Durban, then started at openside against the Lions at Ellis Park on 25 August and scored two tries in a 41-35 win that completed a clean sweep of the South African franchise sides. "He was all over the park," Rennie said afterwards. "Ethan is all arms and legs, but he had a massive impact."

That earned him a start at openside in the fourth Test, played at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on 12 September with Codie Taylor captaining the side. Late in the game, from a lineout drive and a charge by Cam Roigard, Blackadder forced his way over for his first Test try, cutting the gap to 29-21. South Africa scored twice more to win 43-28 and take the series 3-1.

A calf injury, reported by NZ Rugby the day after the first Bledisloe Test, kept him out of both Tests against Australia. He was named in the 36-man squad for the northern tour among the players returning from injury.

Style and standing

Blackadder is a loose forward who can cover lock, and his coaches describe him in similar terms. Rennie talks about his "engine", Penney about his "motor". Robertson's description, from 2023, is the one the Crusaders put in their press release: "He's strong, he's humble, he's a team player."

His Test record is 15 matches, 10 of them starts, with 10 wins and five losses, and one try. In his first nine Tests the All Blacks lost only twice.

Off the field

Away from rugby, Blackadder's interests are the ones he had as a teenager in Nelson. The Crusaders' profile calls him "a true outdoorsman" who spends his off-seasons jet boating and hunting.

Where he is now

Blackadder was not in the 23 named for Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday 8 November (NZ time). Wales in Cardiff and England at Allianz Stadium follow on consecutive weekends, then the Nations Championship finals weekend in London at the end of the month. He is in the Crusaders' squad for 2027, under new head coach Scott Hansen.

Career at a glance

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