In 1986, Michael Jones began a rugby career that will long be remembered for its moments of brilliance, serious injuries and his uncompromising Christian stand. Beginning as a representative of Western Samoa, his country of birth, and continuing with the New Zealand All Blacks, Michael rose to the position of best forward in rugby.

Australian rugby great, David Campese says: `Michael is one of the greatest players in world rugby because he is extremely skilful, a great athlete and a great guy. He knows the game inside and out and he's a great team player. He's very strong and obviously very smart. He always plays to the best of his ability and never gives a bad performance. He's always a nightmare for the Wallabies.'

Michael's talent was first recognised in 1977 when, as a twelve-year-old he stood out at the annual North Island Roller Mills primary and intermediate schools rugby tournament. Five years later, he captained Henderson High School's First XV to a 394-point season victory, with only thirty-nine points conceded. In those days, Henderson High School was scoffed at for its rather loose and liberal approach to education. As a First XV side, they should have posed little threat to other contenders, but instead convincingly beat everyone they played and wound up winning the Auckland secondary schools B-grade championships.

Not surprisingly, a number of onlookers were shocked by the outcome and interested in the young man who had helped it happen. Within days, and barely out of school, Michael was invited to attend senior practices at local club Waitemata and was soon playing Auckland club rugby.

In 1985, after Canterbury lost the Ranfurly Shield to Auckland in New Zealand's National Provincial Competition, Michael's first major break came. He played for the under twenty-one-year-olds in the curtain raiser that afternoon and caught the eye of Auckland coach John Hart. Hart had previously decided that if Auckland would win the shield, he would recruit two of the Colts for the remainder of their southern tour. He chose Michael and Bernie McCahill. Several days later in his first game for Auckland, Michael scored three tries against South Canterbury.

Rugby columnist Spiro Zavos recalls how he later saw Michael’s tries on video. `Here was the complete player,’ he wrote, ‘in that he seemed to be able to totally and instinctively understand the dynamics of the game'. The media swarmed and speculation ran rife as everyone began talking about the future of young Michael Jones.

Michael's international debut was in 1986 for his country of birth, Western Samoa, against Wales. His performance in this match was so impressive that the New Zealand selectors convinced the twenty-two-year-old, who had lived in Auckland since childhood, to play for the All Blacks in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987.

Michael had a sensational tournament, scoring the first try for the All Blacks in both their first and final games against Italy and France. Such was his performance that he was regarded as player of the tournament and hailed as a hero by the New Zealand public.

'Winning the first World Cup back in 1987 was special for a number of reasons,' the forward says. `That was the first World Cup, we were playing here in New Zealand, and we had a team that was playing very good rugby. I think we totally dominated the tournament. It was my first year in the All-Blacks too, so that will always be a special occasion for me, that first World Cup victory.'

At the World Cup, Michael set a standard of play that he continued to uphold throughout the rest of his All Black career. Former New Zealand captain, John Graham, once said of him: `He's naturally gifted at running the right lines, has amazingly good reflexes and is very fast over thirty metres. His hand, eye and foot coordination is remarkable. He has a natural instinct for loose forward play. It's God-given. On the paddock, there's a dominating presence, a magnetic pattern to his football. He's so often in the middle of what's going on.'

Along the way, Michael has experienced some serious injuries that would have ended in career of many others. In 1989, he injured his right knee while playing against Argentina and was forced out of the game for a year. Eight years later, playing in the first test of the year against Fiji, Jones sustained a serious injury to his left knee.

After the game the Sydney Morning Herald wrote: `Another serious knee injury to incomparable flanker Michael Jones has taken some gloss off the All Blacks' 71-5 win over Fiji in their first Test of the year at Albany. Jones went down heavily in a tackle in the thirty-eighth minute of Saturday night's game and later required surgery on a ruptured patella tendon in his left knee... All Blacks doctor John Mayhew said Jones, 32, would be out of all rugby for the rest of the year, which throws doubt on whether the blind-side flanker, one of the game's greatest players, will wear an All Black jersey again. He has won fifty-one Test caps in a superb career, badly affected by injury, and scored his thirteenth Test try against Fiji on Saturday night.'

Michael has experienced some tough times, but believes that his faith in Jesus Christ has given him the strength to keep going. The foundations of Michael's faith were laid when he was a child. Born in 1965, he was raised with his brother and two sisters in West Auckland. His childhood was fairly happy despite the death of his father when he was just four-years-old. His mother, Maina Wearne-Jones, kept the family close by embracing them together in regular prayer times and family fellowship. As a result, Michael heard about the Christian faith at a very young age and was quick to respond to all he learnt at home.

‘I actually asked the Lord into my life when I was seven-years-old,’ he says, ‘and I believe that from that day on I knew that God was a very big part of my life. I think growing up, however, you go through stages where you take things for granted. I think being brought up in a Christian home I started to cruise a bit. A real turning point for me was actually when I injured my knee playing for New Zealand later in my life and, although I was a Christian at that point in my life, I really had to reassess where I was with my relationship with Christ. Through that whole incident, that whole experience, I really started to sort things out and become a lot more serious with my faith. It is still a learning process and I'm still growing in the Lord, but I'm just thankful that the Lord has always been faithful to me. I'm really continuing to grow in the Lord, it's a constant walk, it's a daily process.’

At seven, Michael didn't know it, but his relationship with God would one day become a controversial issue throughout rugby circles. When the All Black announced that he was not going to play on Sundays, his decision became a highly publicised and debated issue - one with serious repercussions, causing him to be the subject of public and media scrutiny, as well as costing him some major matches, including all of the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

`Many people ask me why I don't play on Sundays,' Jones says. `It's a personal thing between me and God. As a family, we always learnt to honour the Lord and especially set one day aside to spend with him and our loved ones, not seeking after our own pleasures.' Michael also believes that if people have taken notice of God as a result, then it has all been worth it. `If my decision not to play on Sundays has made people more aware of the reality of God, that's more than I've been able to achieve physically on the rugby field.'

Rugby is an important aspect of his life, but it pales in significance to knowing and doing God's will. `Although I am truly honoured to represent New Zealand on the rugby field, my first allegiance is definitely to my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. People easily forget a player after he stops playing, but one thing I'd like to be remembered for is that I was a person who put God first before rugby.'

Michael also believes that as a Christian, God sustains him through difficult times. The infamous knee injury in 1989 at Athletic Park, which was heard twenty metres away, should have ended his career, but Michael spent the ensuing months seeking direction from God and being inspired by passages from the Bible, such as Isaiah 40: `Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.' And even though Michael knew that this passage didn’t necessarily mean that he would play rugby again, he did know that he would be given all the strength he needed to achieve God’s purpose for him, whatever that may be.

Since Michael's injury against Fiji in 1997, life has been anything but kind to him. In November that year, the harshest blow dealt was when his mother, Maina Wearne-Jones, died after a four-wheel-drive vehicle she was travelling in crashed and rolled. The news of her death came as a terrible shock to all who knew her, and Michael, her youngest child, was devastated. Since his father's death, Maina had been a pivotal force in his life. `She became my all and I can't express how much I adore her,' Michael says. As a young boy, he remembers how his mother would always tell him that, if he put God first in his life, he couldn't go wrong. `There is a bigger picture in everything that happens,' she would always say. These and other pearls of wisdom Maina left behind have been instrumental in guiding Michael through his life. Though she is sadly missed, Michael says that he and his family `are immensely comforted by the knowledge that we know exactly where she is. This is what she lived for. We are holding on to our memories and the many wonderful things she instilled in our lives.'

Only months after the tragedy of his mother's death, Michael had to come to terms with being axed from the All Blacks. Despite working his way back into the side after a year off recovering from an injury - one which most people were convinced would see the end of his career - Jones was dropped from the team. Coach John Hart was forced to let him go after a string of consecutive losses called for some urgent reshuffling of the team.

Michael seemed the logical choice as his performance and speed had deteriorated since the previous year's injury.

With his days of playing for his country over, Michael decided to play one more season for his provincial side, Auckland. The 1999 season turned out to be a fitting farewell to the career of one of rugby’s greats. Auckland made it through to the NPC final, and in his last game, Michael displayed the character for which he will be remembered.

While on the bottom of a ruck, Michael received a cheap shot from one of the Wellington players, opening up a fifteen-centimetre gash on his inner arm. Auckland doctor, Graham Patterson remembers that the edges of the cut were six centimetres apart, the muscle had been sliced and the bone was showing. But Michael was determined to play out the last thirty-five minutes of his career. ‘A lot of people would have called it quits,’ Patterson says, ‘but there was no way he wanted that. He kept saying, “Just get me back out there.”’

After a dozen stitches and more painkiller injections than the doctor can remember, Jones returned to the field, picking himself up from injury as he has done so many times in his career. The loose forward was inspirational for his team, captain Paul Thomson adding, ‘Suddenly there would be a blue blur and it would be Michael Jones smashing them down.’

After the 24-18 victory, Jones was carried on the shoulders of his teammates, celebrating a victory lap of his career in front of the twenty-two thousand strong crowd. ‘I know I'll miss the guys and the team environment,’ he said in the change room after the game, ‘but I'll always keep in contact. I'll always be here for them. Hopefully, they'll see me as their big brother. I've had ups and downs in the game but that is what you learn to live with. Rugby has taught me a lot about life.’

Michael's career is over, but as he sees it, his days of rugby were predetermined by God anyway and never dependant on his own ability or will. He is also sure of his relationship with Jesus Christ, and confident that his future is in the hands of a God who `works for the good of those who love him'.

Article courtesy of Jannine Pennycook and Peter Furst