Frank Bunce

Frank Eneri Bunce, born on 4 February 1962, is a former New Zealand rugby union player and coach who represented both Western Samoa and New Zealand at international level during the 1990s. He featured in the 1991 and 1995 Rugby World Cups, earning four caps for Samoa and 55 for the All Blacks.

Bunce grew up in Auckland, attending Mangere College, and is the great nephew of Sir Robert Rex, Niue’s premier. He has five children, and as of November 2020, six, with the oldest aged 34 and the youngest under a year old. He is married to his second wife, Jessica Worchel Bunce. His autobiography, Frank Confessions, came out in 1998, and he co-wrote Rugby Skills, Tactics and Rules with Tony Williams in 2008.

His playing career started at the Manukau club, moving to Auckland B in 1984 and Auckland in 1986, the same year he was picked for the North Island team. He stayed with Auckland until 1990, rarely a first-choice player, though he did take part in the 1988 All Blacks trial. In 1991, he shifted to North Harbour. Despite being mainly of Niuean descent, he was selected for Western Samoa and gained international notice at the 1991 World Cup, where Samoa reached the quarter-finals. That form caught the eye of All Blacks coach Laurie Mains, who selected him in 1992.

Bunce became a fixture in the All Blacks backline, missing just one game—against Japan at the 1995 World Cup—until his final match on 6 December 1997 against England in London. He played in the NZRU’s centenary matches against a World XV, the 1993 British and Irish Lions tour, the 1995 Rugby World Cup final, the first two Tri Nations tournaments, and the 1996 series win over South Africa. He captained New Zealand once in a non-test match and also played at the first Sevens World Cup in 1993. For New Zealand, he scored 20 international tries (96 points), and one try (4 points) for Samoa. He played for the Chiefs until 1998, then spent one season with Castres in France and one with Bristol in England before retiring in 1999.

At retirement, he was 35 years and 305 days old, making him the second-oldest All Black ever, New Zealand’s most capped test centre (outside centre) at the time, and the oldest back. (Conrad Smith later held the record for most caps as an All Black outside centre, with 85 as of May 2015.) Known for excellent defence, Bunce was also a strong attacker; his powerful running and ability to break tackles let the backs outside him shine.

After playing, Bunce coached in Italy from 2001 to 2003, served as Auckland’s defence coach in 2004, and was a technical advisor to Samoa in 2005. He works as a position-specific coach for the International Rugby Academy in New Zealand. He appeared as a participant in season 1 of Match Fit, returned for season 3 in a Union vs. League beach-five match, and in 2024 joined Match Fit: Union vs. League, opting for bike-based training due to his poor knees.