Career
Brooke played 58 tests for New Zealand, and 42 non-international matches for the All Blacks, captained Auckland Blues to Super 12 championships in 1996 and 1997 and was an influential figure in Auckland's dominance in the National Provincial Championship during the late 1980s and 1990s. He scored 17 tries in Test matches, then a world record for a forward. He also played for New Zealand Māori.
Brooke was a founding player of the Southerners Sports Club (Bangkok), playing in the inaugural side in 1994 against Taradale RFC. In 1995 his biography 'Zinny: The Zinzan Brooke story', written with Alex Veysey, was published
Brooke is considered one of the best number eights to have ever played for the All Blacks. He had the running and kicking skills of a backline player which made him extremely mobile and agile as a forward. He once kicked a 47-metre drop goal during a 1995 Rugby World Cup match, one of three he scored in Test matches.
In 2007, former England centre and captain Will Carling published his list of the '50 Greatest Rugby players' in The Daily Telegraph, and ranked Brooke the eighth greatest player of all time, stating; "For a forward his skills were outrageous. As comfortable playing sevens as 15s, he had better kicking and handling skills than some fly-halves playing international rugby. You align that with his strength and ability as a forward to read the game – he was unique ".
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