Do we like them?

Do we like Sam Whitelock?

Our score: 7 out of 10. Clean on harm and decent in how he treats people, with real charity work, but little on record about standing up for others at a cost.

Sam Whitelock is the lock who became the youngest All Black to reach 100 Tests and the quickest in the world to do it. He finished with 153 caps and two Rugby World Cups, then announced in April 2024 that he'd retire from professional rugby at the end of his season with French club Pau. His own line was that it was “time to finish the playing chapter of rugby”.

His one proper disciplinary blot is from 2017, when he was cited for striking a Cheetahs player during a Super Rugby match. A SANZAAR committee judged it worth a red card, and set a four-week starting point. It cut that to two weeks because of his excellent disciplinary record. That's a heat-of-the-moment footy offence, not a pattern.

On the harm check, there's nothing hostile on the record. In 2019, when asked about Israel Folau's anti-gay posts, he said he hadn't seen the post, that people can hold their own opinions, and that the focus should be on “working out what you say and how you're saying it”. That's neither a stand nor a shove, and he's not on record campaigning for or against anyone's rights. Searches turned up nothing on him and climate, vaccines, race or migrants.

He was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2025 New Year Honours for services to rugby and the community. Nothing recent has turned up on him beyond life after rugby, and the record has no lawsuits or allegations against him that we could find.

So: a decent bloke, on the right side of the harm test, with a modest public footprint beyond the field. We'd have liked a clearer word for LGBTQ+ people than the Folau answer, and that's why this is a solid yes rather than a gushing one.