Leroy Carter: Sevens World Series champion who scored in each of his first three Tests

When the All Blacks called up Leroy Carter in 2025, head coach Scott Robertson offered a bold description of the wing from Tauranga: "Could probably be the fastest in New Zealand, on record time." Carter then scored in each of his first three Tests. Before that he had been a World Series champion, a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and an Olympian with the All Blacks Sevens, and before that a small halfback who, in his own words, looked like a hobbit. This is the story of how he got from a junior club on the Gold Coast to the black jersey.

Gold Coast beginnings

Carter was born in Tauranga on 24 February 1999, but he did much of his growing up across the Tasman. He played his junior rugby in Queensland from the age of seven until he was 12, with the Helensvale Hogs on the Gold Coast, before the family moved back to New Zealand.

It was a family affair. His father coached the team, he told rugby.com.au in March 2026, and he played in the midfield and sometimes at flanker. Speed came later. "I was tiny as well, I looked like a hobbit," he said. When Super Rugby Pacific held its first Club Round in 2026, Carter wore Hogs socks for the Chiefs.

Tauranga Boys' College

Back in Tauranga, Carter went to Tauranga Boys' College and played his club rugby for Tauranga Sports. He told SunLive in 2022 that his five years at the school were when he started taking rugby more seriously.

He was a halfback then, a gritty one according to allblacks.com, and he made the First XV in 2016 under the guidance of Jason Spice, the long-serving Hurricanes halfback. "Spicy really took me under his wing," Carter said.

Sevens was where he stood out. In 2017 he was named player of the tournament at the National Condor Sevens, the secondary schools championship, and he finished third at the national sevens twice. "I enjoyed sevens more than fifteens," he said later. In 2018 he was part of the Bay of Plenty Under 19 side that won the Graham Mourie Cup at the National Jock Hobbs Memorial Under 19 tournament.

The Under 20s and the Steamers

In 2019 Carter was picked for the New Zealand Under 20 side, mostly at halfback. He played seven games, four of them as a starter, according to the New Zealand Rugby History database. His one try came back on the Gold Coast: on 26 April 2019 he scored in a 53-7 win over Fiji at Bond Sports Park in Robina, in the Oceania Under 20 Championship. Quinn Tupaea, Samipeni Finau and Tupou Vaa'i were in the same side.

He made his NPC debut for Bay of Plenty later that year, playing 11 games, ten of them off the bench at halfback. He was in the Chiefs' wider training squad in 2020, and that season he scored his first provincial try, against Auckland at Rotorua International Stadium on 2 October 2020. From 2021 he was mostly a wing, and he scored in the Steamers' 33-32 win over Wellington at the same ground on 2 October 2021. He also played once for the New Zealand Barbarians in 2021.

Then sevens came calling. Clark Laidlaw, the All Blacks Sevens coach, brought him in as a replacement player for a couple of weeks, and Carter "fell in love with the game", as he told SunLive. He was a training partner at the team's domestic tournaments in 2021, and his Bay of Plenty team-mate Joe Webber, already an All Blacks Sevens regular, persuaded him to commit to the short game full-time. "I loved it straight away," Carter said.

The All Blacks Sevens

Carter's first World Series tournament was in Singapore in April 2022. On 9 April 2022 he scored in a 43-5 pool win over Wales at the National Stadium, and New Zealand went on to the Cup final, where Fiji beat them 28-17 the next day.

That July he went to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where the sevens were played at Coventry Stadium. New Zealand lost their semi-final to Fiji 19-14 in extra time, then met Australia for bronze on 31 July 2022. Carter scored two of New Zealand's four tries in a 26-12 win.

The 2022-23 season was a golden one. New Zealand won the World Series, their 14th title, taking five of the 11 tournaments, and allblacks.com wrote in May 2023 that Carter was a big reason for the team's change from runners-up to winners. At the Los Angeles Sevens at Dignity Health Sports Park on 26 February 2023, he scored five tries on the second day, one in every knockout match, including two in the 22-12 Cup final win over Argentina, and World Rugby named him player of the final. By May he had been player of the final in three Cup final wins, according to allblacks.com.

At season's end he was named in the World Series Dream Team, and he was nominated for World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year for 2023. He is All Blacks Sevens player No 300, and he has that number tattooed on his left arm beside the logo of I Am Hope, the mental health charity he supports.

In 2024 he went to the Paris Olympics. He scored in New Zealand's 14-12 pool win over Ireland at the Stade de France on 25 July 2024; later that day New Zealand lost their quarter-final to South Africa 14-7, and two days later, on 27 July 2024, they beat Ireland 17-7 to finish fifth. By Wikipedia's count he played 116 matches for the All Blacks Sevens between 2022 and 2024 and scored 265 points.

The Chiefs

In August 2024 the Chiefs announced that Carter had signed a two-year deal from 2025. He told the NZ Herald that the Chiefs had been the team he wanted to play for since he was a young kid, and head coach Clayton McMillan said: "Leroy has always been a player of immense talent."

First he went back to Bay of Plenty for his fifth NPC season, and the Steamers made the final. Carter scored in the 19-17 quarter-final win over Hawke's Bay at Tauranga Domain on 12 October 2024 and in the 32-20 semi-final win over Canterbury at the same ground on 19 October 2024, then started on the right wing in the final against Wellington at Sky Stadium on 26 October 2024. Wellington, captained by Du'Plessis Kirifi, won 23-20. Carter played 42 games for Bay of Plenty between 2019 and 2025 and scored 17 tries.

His Super Rugby debut came in the Chiefs' first game of 2025, against the Blues at Eden Park on 15 February 2025, and he scored in a 25-14 win. On 24 May 2025 he scored a hat-trick in an 85-7 win over Moana Pasifika at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton. He finished his first season with nine tries in 15 games, and he started on the left wing in the final against the Crusaders at Apollo Projects Stadium in Christchurch on 21 June 2025, which the Crusaders won 16-12. The Chiefs named him their Rookie of the Year for 2025.

The 2026 season brought his most famous Super Rugby try. Against the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin on 21 February 2026, Quinn Tupaea took a goal-line drop-out quickly, regathered and handed Carter the ball, and Carter raced away from the cover for what the Otago Daily Times called "a remarkable 100m try". The Chiefs won 26-23. On 6 March 2026, wearing his old junior club's socks for Club Round, he scored another hat-trick in a 57-24 win over Moana Pasifika in Hamilton.

The Chiefs reached the final again, and Carter started on the right wing at Hnry Stadium in Wellington on 20 June 2026, when the Hurricanes won 60-5. He had played 26 games for the club by the end of the season.

Tries in his first three Tests

Carter first joined the All Blacks as injury cover for Caleb Clarke during the 2025 Rugby Championship. His chance came after Emoni Narawa was hurt in the 24-17 win over South Africa at Eden Park on 6 September 2025. Carter was picked on the left wing for the second Test, against the Springboks at Sky Stadium in Wellington on 13 September 2025, becoming All Black No 1232. "It is a special occasion for him and his family," Robertson said that week.

He scored early. Patrick McKendry of 1News called it "a thing of beauty" for its build-up, which included a neat combination between Ardie Savea and Simon Parker on the right before the ball was swept left. The Springboks then took over and won 43-10, the heaviest defeat by margin in All Blacks history, but McKendry wrote that Carter had been "a bit of a revelation in the No.11 jersey".

He scored again against Australia at Eden Park on 27 September 2025, a 33-24 win, and a week later he dived over early against the Wallabies at Optus Stadium in Perth on 4 October 2025, with Quinn Tupaea doing much of the work, in a 28-14 win. That made it a try in each of his first three Tests.

On the end-of-year tour he started on the right wing in the first three Tests: a 26-13 win over Ireland at Soldier Field in Chicago on 1 November 2025, a 25-17 win over Scotland at Murrayfield in Edinburgh on 8 November 2025, and a 33-19 loss to England at Twickenham on 15 November 2025.

Dave Rennie took over as head coach in 2026, and Carter was a surprise pick on the left wing, in the words of the AFP report, for Rennie's second Test, against Italy at Sky Stadium in Wellington on 11 July 2026. The All Blacks won 47-17.

He toured South Africa for Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series. In the opening match, against the Stormers at DHL Stadium in Cape Town on 7 August 2026, he took a backhand pass from Peter Lakai and beat three defenders inside the 22 to score in a 38-21 win. Against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on 15 August 2026 he scored twice and made five line breaks in a 50-19 win.

He came off the bench in the 33-16 first-Test win over South Africa at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg on 22 August 2026. A week later, on 29 August 2026 at DHL Stadium in Cape Town, he started and scored, and 1News listed him among the All Blacks' best, though South Africa won 33-26. He also started the third Test at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on 5 September 2026, which South Africa won 29-24.

On 10 October 2026, in the first Bledisloe Cup Test of the year at Eden Park, Carter scored once more, carrying the Wallabies loose forward Rob Valetini over the line with him in a 50-19 win. Valetini landed on Carter's ankle and he had to leave the field. He needed surgery for a high ankle injury, and on 20 October 2026 he was ruled out of the northern tour.

That left him with 11 Tests, ten of them as a starter, five tries and seven wins. New Zealand Rugby's records, which also count the two tour matches in South Africa, credit him with 13 games and eight tries for the All Blacks.

Style and standing

Robertson's case for Carter in 2025 went beyond pace. "He's tough," the coach said, adding that Carter had played a lot at halfback and had covered wing and centre. McMillan, signing him for the Chiefs, called him "a legitimate hybrid player" and said: "We love his competitive edge, abrasive style."

Carter's own view of his career is that it happened quickly. Asked in 2022 what he would tell young players, he said: "Not everyone is always a star straight away." Some people, he added, "take some time to blossom".

Where he is now

Carter is recovering from his ankle surgery and is named in the Chiefs' 2027 squad, announced on 28 October 2026. In February 2026 he re-signed with New Zealand Rugby, the Chiefs and Bay of Plenty through to the end of 2028. "I don't want to play for another club, so it was a pretty easy decision," he said. The All Blacks play Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday 8 November 2026 NZ time, then Wales in Cardiff and England at Allianz Stadium in London, before the Nations Championship Finals Weekend in London 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. Provincial figures are from the New Zealand Rugby History database; sevens figures from Wikipedia; Chiefs games from the club's 2027 squad announcement.