Gregor Paul: Bad decisions, bad breaks and bad luck

Henry Paul. Photo / Ross Setford

Colin Slade probably holds the title of the Unluckiest Player Ever after his shocking string of injuries. However, Gregor Paul points out that there are other candidates.

1. Duane Monkley played a million great games for Waikato: bled for the cause, tackled everything, foraged for the ball and outplayed every other No 7 in New Zealand and never once won an All Black cap. Scandalously unlucky.

2. Liam Barry went on tour with the All Blacks in 1993 and played five tour games. He was neither brilliant nor awful but was unlucky enough to fall victim to a travesty when Mike Brewer was called in for the final game against the Barbarians despite the fact he wasn't even in the squad.

3. Henry Paul was selected to play for England against Australia in 2004. He wasn't playing horribly but was substituted after just 26 minutes when coach Andy Robinson, a notoriously poor selector, realised he should have started the game with the more experienced Will Greenwood. Paul never played for England again.

4. Isa Nacewa made a bad call in 2003 as a 19-year-old to play for Fiji at the World Cup. If he hadn't taken the field, his eligibility wouldn't have been captured but he came on for one minute against Scotland, didn't touch the ball and didn't make a tackle. That was it. The IRB refused to nullify that one minute and he was never able to fulfil his real dream of being an All Black.

5. Jasin Goldsmith was on his way to stardom - having toured with the All Blacks in 1988 as an 18-year-old winger/fullback. But early in 1989, he broke his leg so badly, he was never the same player again. He struggled even to make provincial sides after he returned and, at just 24, he gave it all up.

6. Welsh legend Martyn Williams played 16 seasons for Wales and earned 99 test caps, the last coming on the eve of the 2011 World Cup. But Williams was famously left out of the final squad that came to New Zealand and then broke his arm playing for Cardiff. It still hasn't healed, suggesting the 36-year-old will be stuck one short of the century.

7. Brian O'Driscoll was focused and ready to lead the British Lions against the All Blacks in 2005. But his series ended after just 41 seconds when he was the victim of what appeared to be an illegal clean-out. Fuelling his sense of injustice was the fact both the perpetrators, Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu, were exonerated by the citing commissioner.

8. Former Highlanders wing James Paterson was hit with a four-month ban in October last year after he tested positive for a banned substance at the World Cup. Paterson had been given Oxycodone for his injured shoulder by the US team doctor, who did not realise the substance was on the banned list.

9. Brent "Buck" Anderson was in direct competition with Albert Anderson for the last lock place in the 1987 All Black World Cup squad. The final 26 was announced at a televised dinner after the trial, with the former Anderson's misery at being left out captured for the entire nation to see.

10. Bruce Hemara was a dogged provincial hooker who finally earned All Black selection for the 1985 tour of South Africa - which was then cancelled. His big break, though, came the following year when he was picked to play for the 'Baby Blacks' against France. Amazingly he had to pull out on the eve of the game because of injury. Sean Fitzpatrick replaced him . . . and Hemara never won his coveted cap.