Christian Cullen is a New Zealand rugby union player who represented the New Zealand national rugby union team either as a fullback or a wing at international level from 1996 to 2002. He represented New Zealand in 58 test matches and scored 46 tries for his country. Cullen's try total places him ninth on the all-time list and he is the second highest try scorer for New Zealand behind Doug Howlett (49). He holds the record for the highest number of international tries scored in the fullback playing position in history.

Cullen made his international debut for New Zealand in a 51–10 victory over Samoa at McLean Park in Napier on 7 June 1996, scoring his first three international tries in the same match. He went on to score a further four tries in a 62–31 win against Scotland the following week. Cullen went on to score more tries in the Tri Nations Series in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 and New Zealand's tour of Britain and Ireland in 1997. His final three tries came in a test match on 29 June 2002 with Fiji at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, where he overtook Jeff Wilson's total of 44 to become the player with the highest number of tries scored for New Zealand. Cullen remained New Zealand's leading try-scorer until Howlett overtook Cullen's total in September 2007.

Of Cullen's 46 international tries, 27 were scored in test matches, 16 in the Tri Nations Series and 3 in New Zealand's 1997 tour of Britain and Ireland. He scored more against South Africa more than any other team, with ten tries, followed by Australia whom he scored eight tries against. Cullen scored multiple tries in a single international match on 13 occasions, including four hat-tricks. The first of these was a three-try effort against Samoa on his 1996 international debut. The second hat-trick was against Scotland in his second international game held the following week. The third was against Wales in New Zealand's 1997 Britain and Ireland tour and the last was over Fiji in a 2002 test match. Cullen scored tries against 11 countries, including eight of the eleven "Tier 1" countries and three "Tier 2" nations.

Key Won denotes that the match was won by New Zealand. Lost denotes that the match was lost by New Zealand. Draw denotes that the match was drawn.

International tries Scores and results list New Zealand's tally first. +International rugby union tries by Christian Cullen Try Opponent Venue Competition Date Result Score Refs. 1 McLean Park, Napier Test match Won 51–10 2 3 4 Carisbrook, Dunedin Won 62–31 5 6 7 8 Athletic Park, Wellington 1996 Tri Nations Series Won 43–6 9 ABSA Stadium, Durban Test match Won 23–19 10 North Harbour Stadium, North Shore City Won 71–5 11 12 Athletic Park, Wellington Won 93–8 13 14 Rugby Park, Hamilton Won 62–10 15 Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne 1997 Tri Nations Series Won 33–18 16 Eden Park, Auckland Won 55–35 17 18 Carisbrook, Dunedin Won 36–24 19 Wembley Stadium, London 1997 New Zealand tour of Britain and Ireland Won 42–7 20 21 22 Carisbrook, Dunedin Test match Won 64–22 23 24 Lancaster Park, Christchurch 1998 Tri Nations Series Lost 23–27 25 Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Test match Lost 14–19 26 Athletic Park, Wellington Won 54–7 27 28 Carisbrook, Dunedin 1999 Tri Nations Series Won 28–0 29 Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria Won 34–18 30 31 Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield Test match Won 101–3 32 North Harbour Stadium, North Shore City Won 102–0 33 Carisbrook, Dunedin Won 69–20 34 Eden Park, Auckland Won 48–14 35 Stadium Australia. Sydney 2000 Tri Nations Series Won 39–35 36 Jade Stadium, Christchurch Won 25–12 37 38 Westpac Stadium, Wellington Lost 23–24 39 40 Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg 19 August 2000 Lost 40–46 41 42 Stade de France, Paris Test match 11 November 2000 Won 39–26 43 Waikato Stadium, Hamilton 8 June 2002 Won 64–10 44 Westpac Stadium, Wellington Test match 29 June 2002 Won 68–18 45 Westpac Stadium, Wellington Test match 29 June 2002 Won 68–18 46 Westpac Stadium, Wellington Test match 29 June 2002 Won 68–18

Hat-tricks +International hat-tricks by Christian Cullen Opponent Venue Competition Date Result ScoreRef(s) 1 McLean Park, Napier Test match Won 51–10 2 Carisbrook, Dunedin Won 62–31 3 Wembley Stadium, London 1997 New Zealand tour of Britain and Ireland Won 42–7 4 Westpac Stadium, Wellington Test match Won 68–18

Statistics Source:

+ Caps and tries by year Year Tries 1996 10 9 1997 12 12 1998 7 4 1999 12 6 2000 10 11 2001 1 0 2002 6 4 Total 58 46

+Tries by competition Competition Tries Test match 27 Tri Nations Series 16 Tour 3Total 46

+Tries by opponent Opponent Tries 10 8 6 5 3 3 3 3 2 2 1

Notes

References