"Everybody wanted to be Cully," says Israel Dagg in Sky Sport's new documentary Greats of Super Rugby: Christian Cullen, a televised tribute to perhaps the world's finest ever rugby fullback.
What a player he was. Dagg goes on to speak about how he remembers as a child being drivenby his parents through or near Paekakariki on the Kapiti Coast and being told that was where the great Christian Cullen came from.
The young Dagg was suitably impressed. "Wow!" "Awesome!" And viewers of all ages should likewise be impressed with a documentary which screens for the first time tonight and which will jog a few memories and perhaps educate those not old enough to see the now 43-year-old run around for Horowhenua, Manawatu, Wellington, the Hurricanes and All Blacks.
As a broken field runner, Cullen has no equal. He had the ability to score from literally anywhere and often did. "I guess I was always fast, but I can't say I ever practised the side step, it just came naturally," Cullen says on the documentary.
One of the most memorable tests I have been to was my first as a rugby reporter.
It was Cullen's second test. It was at Carisbrook in Dunedin and the opposition were Scotland. Cullen's test debut featured a hat-trick of tries against Manu Samoa in Napier in June, 1996, and a week later he scored four against the hapless Scots in the deep south, a performance which not only made him a household name in New Zealand but also probably far further afield.
Christian Cullen on the run against Scotland at Carisbrook, Dunedin. Photo / Getty
Afterwards Scotland captain Rob Wainwright delivered one of the finest quotes a journalist could hope to record. "Lomu is the devil we know; Cullen is the devil we're finding out about," he said.
It will surprise few to say that the modest Cullen does not talk long and loud about his talents and achievements. That is left to others, most significantly his former flatmate and first-five teammate David Holwell, halfback Jason Spice, midfielders Tana Umaga, Alama Ieremia and others.
Carlos Spencer, another Horowhenua lad whom Cullen faced in Super Rugby's first-ever match, the Hurricanes v Blues game at the Palmerston North Showgrounds in 1996, says: "He had some guts; he didn't mind taking contact, whether it was ball carrying or making a tackle."
Cullen scored 56 tries in 85 matches for the Hurricanes and 46 in 58 tests. His All Black career began in 1996 and ended in 2002. Should it have ended then under All Black coach John Mitchell? Probably not.
Mitchell decided in 2003 that he needed only one specialist fullback and that was Leon MacDonald, so Cullen's international career was over and he was soon off to Munster in Ireland.
This is covered in the documentary, but perhaps it could have been dealt with in more detail because it's all rather poignant in the film, which starts and finishes with Cullen's son, also Christian, in another rather touching moment.
Christian Cullen celebrates his All Blacks debut with his parents. Photo / Photosport
More scrutiny should have perhaps been given to how Cullen reacted to what he regarded as poor personal performances. Spoiler alert: Not well, and that probably applied to his golf game too. Now playing off a four handicap, Cullen was a renowned club thrower on the course as a youngster and apparently smashed many a cellphone in his golf bag.
"I'd always remember if you didn't have a good game you wouldn't go out," he says regarding his performances for the Hurricanes. "You hide in your house and not go out until Monday for training.
"You didn't go out of your way to play badly but sometimes things just happen. I'd hide away. If the game was on Friday you wouldn't see me until Monday."
Christian Cullen during a Super Rugby match for the Hurricanes. Photo / Photosport
Umaga, a former Hurricanes and All Blacks teammate of Cullen's, said his mate's international career should have been longer.
"Even with his [knee] injury, I still believe he probably left our game before he needed to or should have," Umaga says. "That's my personal belief. That's probably one of my biggest personal disappointments; that I didn't get to play with him longer."
"He changed the way not only fullbacks played the game, but the game [itself], I believe," Holwell says.
