Former All Black captain Todd Blackadder is hoping to get his first test jersey back after it was caught up in a bitter family divorce.
The Canterbury rugby hero gave the prized shirt, from his 1998 debut against England, to his father Ross for safekeeping.
But it is thought to have been misplaced when Ross split from his ex-wife, Jenny Blackadder, in 2003.
It is understood lawyers acting on behalf of the Crusaders coach have written to his former stepmother asking for the jersey to be returned.
Jenny, a country musician who calls herself the Queen of the Banjo, told his lawyers she no longer had it.
The jersey has added significance because it was the first game after skipper Sean Fitzpatrick hung up his boots, and had his Number 2 emblazoned on the right sleeve. It could fetch up to $3000, according to a sports memorabilia expert.
A spokesman for the Crusaders Super 14 team said Blackadder considered the matter personal and did not want to comment on it.
But the man Blackadder replaced in his first cap, World Cup winner Michael Jones, said a player's first All Black jersey was something to be treasured.
"For every All Black, and I suppose anyone who has represented their country, that first jersey represents everything that you have ever dreamed of, all of the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into realising the dream," Jones said.
"They always say you never swap your first jersey.
"When I was playing, if there was a new player and one of the opposition wanted to swap, then one of the senior players would swap their jersey so that the young guy would get to keep his own.
That was the tradition, that you always kept your first jersey."
Jones, 45, said he kept his debut jersey from the opening match of the 1987 World Cup "in a cupboard, nicely folded".
The former Samoa coach, whose wife Maliena is expecting their third child in a week, said he would "probably pass that jersey on to my boy or my grandson".
When contacted last week Jenny Blackadder, a Justice of the Peace, refused to comment.
"It's only because Todd's related that this is now a story," she said.
"If I wanted to tell you what was in my heart I could give you the story of the month."
Ross and Jenny broke up in 2003 but details of their separation are the subject of a court suppression order.
After playing two tests against England in 1998, Rangiora-born Blackadder, 38, was discarded by coach John Hart ahead of the 1999 World Cup.
Following a personnel clear-out after the semifinal debacle against France, he was back in favour and he captained the All Blacks for 10 tests during the 2000 season.
But the Canterbury player never quite emulated the remarkable success he enjoyed leading the Crusaders and Canterbury provincial sides.
He quit New Zealand to play in Scotland at the end of 2001.
Jersey search unravels
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