All Black: Cancer survivor Cruden has 'time for everyone'

Aaron Cruden. Photo / Richard Robinson

Aaron Cruden still gets text messages of encouragement from his mum before kickoffs, and critiques from his dad after the final whistle.

He drops in on his college old boys whenever he can and finds time for everybody.

The 22-year-old now playing on the biggest stage is modest, down-to-earth and utterly unfazed by the challenge - which surprises nobody who knows him well.

Called into the All Blacks as an emergency replacement for the injured Dan Carter, Cruden had huge boots to fill and the anxieties of an entire nerve-racked country to carry.

He was put in the starting lineup of the All Blacks for just the second time in his rugby career for the crucial Rugby World Cup semifinals against Australia, and many wondered if his small frame could step up to the occasion.

But Cruden had long been a legend in his hometown.

"What the rest of the country saw him do on Sunday, people in the Manawatu already knew," said Cruden's Manawatu coach, Dave Rennie.

In high school, Cruden was picked to the first XV at 15 and became captain at 17.

"He started off as a little fella. He was a young boy, a year ahead at school," said Cruden's high school coach, Rhys Archibald.

But he showed such great leadership that when he left, the school began a leadership programme to try to fill the void.

"We used to travel around the country playing other first XVs, and everyone used to comment on what a wonderful job the school was doing [with Aaron]. But it was nothing to do with the school," Archibald said.

Palmerston Boys High School rector Tim O'Connor said Cruden had been a natural leader with a knack for making brilliant speeches in front of large audiences.

"There were a few occasions where I told him to be careful - 'You're starting to show me up'," Mr O'Connor said.

"But there was no pretence in how he presented himself. He was just one of the boys."

School board chairman Craig Hart said Cruden was remembered as the best first XV captain the school had seen.

But not long after graduating, Cruden was struck down with life-threatening testicular cancer which had spread to his lungs. He had been a rising 19-year-old star in provincial rugby when he was forced into more than two months of chemotherapy.

The treatments were debilitating - but Cruden bounced right back, leading the New Zealand U20 rugby team just months afterward.

"You never expect to hear you have cancer at the age of 19," Cruden said in December 2008, shortly after being given the all-clear. "That was a big shock ... my life was just beginning. My rugby was just starting to go well."

Father Stu Cruden said his son worked as hard as anyone.

"He was just a boy growing up but he got into everything at 100 miles an hour."

His son would have never expected to be called up to the All Blacks during the World Cup - in fact, he was set to fly out to Disneyworld in Florida before the end of the tournament.

But as soon as he got the call he would have immediately focused on the task ahead, Stu Cruden said.

"He had big boots to fill. You will never fill Dan Carter's boots, but he can fill his own. He's his own person, and that's important," he said.

Cruden's mother, Missy, who Archibald said had raised Cruden and his brothers alone, still sends her son text messages before his games with encouragement and advice.

College Old Boys rugby club president Gordon Gray said Cruden came down to the club whenever he could.

"He's the type of guy who's got time for everyone."