Israel Dagg

Early life

Dagg was born in Marton, New Zealand and attended Lindisfarne College in Hastings, Hawke's Bay. Dagg is of Māori descent.

Early career

While in high school, Dagg represented Hawke's Bay at under-16 and under-19 level. Dagg attended the Advanced Course at the International Rugby Academy (IRANZ) in April 2006. His course facilitator was current Chiefs coach, Dave Rennie, and former Otago, Otago Highlanders and New Zealand player Jeff Wilson. That year, he became the first secondary school player to be selected for Hawke's Bay since Danny Lee. The 2006 New Zealand Rugby Almanack named him one of its five promising players for 2006.

2010

Dagg made his All Blacks debut against Ireland in New Plymouth on 12 June 2010. He was again capped against Wales the following week but was injured at half time.

Coach Graham Henry decided to rest him for the second test against Wales, giving veteran Mils Muliaina an opportunity. Muliaina was awarded the 15 jersey for the opening Tri Nations test against South Africa. A strong performance by the veteran, in the 32–12 result for the All Blacks, led to his being selected again for the rematch against the Springboks. Dagg was awarded a bench spot from which he emerged to score his first international try for the All Blacks. Dagg swerved between Schalk Burger and Pierre Spies before dancing his way to the try line. This try gave New Zealand the try bonus-point in the Investic Tri Nations as the All Blacks won 31–17.

Dagg's second test try came in dramatic circumstances against South Africa on 21 August 2010 at FNB Stadium near Soweto, Johannesburg. With the scores level at 22-all, in the last minute of play, Dagg backed up a break by Ma'a Nonu to score the game-winning try for a 29–22 result.

2011

In the pool rounds of the 2011 Rugby World Cup Dagg became one of the tournament's top try scorers. He scored the tournament's first try in the first half of the opening game against Tonga before adding another try before half time in the same game. His next try came in the 22nd minute of the All Blacks pool match against France. In total, he scored five tries in the tournament. That was the second most at the tournament.

Dagg's inclusion saw Mils Muliaina displaced from the All Blacks starting XV, with Muliaina only two caps away from his 100th test. Dagg played in the final against France, which the All blacks won.

Following the completion of the Rugby World Cup, the IRB's Rugby News Service listed Dagg as one of the Top 5 players of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

2012

Dagg was named in the 30 man test squad to play Ireland in New Zealand. He started all three games at fullback. In the second match he received a yellow card for shoulder charging a kicker late. In the third match, he scored a try off a Sonny Bill Williams grubber kick. He also kicked a conversion while Aaron Cruden was injured. The All Blacks won the test series.

Dagg started in all of the 2012 Rugby Championship matches for the All Blacks. He scored in the first match of the Rugby Championship against the Wallabies. It came from a set piece move involving Dan Carter. He scored in the second match of the rugby championship against the Wallabies off a pass from Sonny Bill Williams. He scored his third try of the championship against South Africa from offloads by Sam Whitelock then Kieran Read. The All Blacks won the Bledisloe Cup and the Rugby Championship trophy.

2013-15

Dagg played in every single match of 2013 except for the match against Japan in Tokyo, but had injury trouble in 2014 and 2015, limiting his number of test appearances. Regular right wing Ben Smith was usually used to cover Dagg's injuries, eventually taking the fullback jersey and supplanting Dagg.

Dagg narrowly missed out on being picked for New Zealand's 2015 Rugby World Cup squad. Dagg and Cory Jane were dismissed for Waisake Naholo, who had recently recovered from a broken leg, while Ben Smith was the first-choice for the tournament. Dagg subsequently returned to Hawke's Bay to play for the Magpies, but was injured playing his 50th cap. Dagg's latest injury required shoulder surgery, ruling him out for the rest of the Magpies' Mitre 10 cup-winning year.

2016

Dagg made a recovery from his shoulder injury, returning to the Crusaders for the 2016 Super Rugby season. Due to an injury to Nehe Milner-Skudder, Dagg was then re-selected for New Zealand, being named in the 32-man squad for the All Blacks' three-match series against Wales. He played at fullback for two games, scoring tries in each.

Ben Smith was shifted back to fullback for the 2016 Rugby Championship, with Dagg moved out to wing for the series. Dagg scored 2 tries against Australia in Wellington on his debut as the right wing, allowing New Zealand to once again win the Bledisloe Cup.

He cemented his place as the All Blacks' first choice right wing, completing his comeback by finishing the competition as the joint highest try scorer with Ben Smith. The two players scored 5 tries each across the 6 matches played. He also notably kicked a 47-meter penalty against Argentina. On the end of year tour, he was rested for the first game against Ireland, he scored tries against Italy and France, the latter of which he returned to the fullback jersey with Smith out injured.

Dagg finished 2016 as the highest try-scorer of the year for the All Blacks, beating the team's new first-choice fly-half and World Rugby Player of The Year- Beauden Barrett by one try. Dagg scored 10 in total from the 12 games he played in 2016.

2017

Despite missing most of Super Rugby due to knee surgery in 2017, Dagg was retained as the first-choice right winger for the All Blacks' series against the British and Irish Lions and Pasifica Challenge against Samoa. Dagg scored a try in the 78-0 victory against Samoa and set up debutant Vaea Fifita for his first test try. Dagg was a standout performer against the Lions in the first test, which was a 30-15 victory and the second test where he was moved to fullback which was a historic 24-21 loss to the Lions. Dagg surpassed Jonah Lomu and Sir John Kirwan as the second-to-most capped All Blacks winger in the second test as well, second only to former team mate Joe Rokocoko.

Personal life

Dagg has been married to wife Daisy since 2015. They have a child, son Arlo who was born in 2017 while Dagg was out injured.