“U2’s famous One Tree Hill song. I’m from there.” To an Irish person, Isa Nacewa knows what button to press when explaining where he was born and raised. An Onehunga boy, Nacewa was never far from the scenic One Tree Hill [a volcanic peak] in Auckland. His parents arrived in the Auckland suburb in 1977 […]

6 years ago

It is Monday evening in Auckland and Isa Nacewa is contemplating the cancellation of Blues vs. Crusaders. For a stretch of months, New Zealand was free of Covid cases and strictly monitoring their borders, but with society largely reopened and ticking over quite nicely. Isa Nacewa was living in a land of proud Kiwis. Around […]

6 years ago

2018 feels like a lifetime ago. Isa Nacewa wasn’t holding back when he was commenting on Ireland’s regression in the past year. The Irish rugby team peaked 11 months ago. While everyone else was still a year out from their World Cup form, they landed themselves top of a pile of teams who just weren’t […]

6 years ago

Fullback, outhalf, right wing, left wing, sub. That was the gist of it for Isa Nacewa in his first season at Leinster after Michael Cheika brought him over from Auckland Blues. Nacewa played his first game for Leinster just under 10 years ago and while there were glimpses of his potential in the early months […]

8 years ago

Leinster captain Isa Nacewa will retire at the end of the current campaign and the province will have to appoint his successor as they prepare for their Champions Cup defence next season. Leinster fly-half Johnny Sexton is the third longest serving player at the club behind Rob Kearney and Devin Toner and former teammate Eoin […]

8 years ago

Ahead of Leinster’s Champions Cup clash with Racing 92, Isa Nacewa was lining up kicks from across the San Mames pitch. The veteran Kiwi [with one Fijian cap] played his final European game, in Bilbao, and it was fittingly in his fourth European Cup final. Nacewa has not only lost a yard of pace, he’s […]

8 years ago