Nehe Milner Skudder

Family background

Milner-Skudder was born 15 December 1990 in Taihape, New Zealand. On the Maori side he is of the Ngati Porou and Tapuika tribes but also is of Tongan descent. His paternal grandparents are originally from Mu'a/Lapaha/'Ata'ata island in Tonga.

Heneriata Milner is a cousin of the late All Black centre Henare 'Buff' Milner, an All Black in 1968–1970. Milner-Skudder's father Richard is a younger brother of George Skudder (George represented the All Blacks, also as a winger in 1969 and 1972).

Another All Black Tanerau Latimer (five tests; six games 2009) is Nehe's first cousin. Ben Atiga was another All Black (1 test 2003) from the same wider family. Their forefathers were born and raised in Lapaha, Tongatapu in Tonga, before they left to New Zealand. Two members of the earlier generations of the Skudder family were part of 94 a group of Tongans who volunteered to join the Pioneer Maori Battalion and Niue Battalion during WWI.

Domestic career

Milner-Skudder began his professional career by switching to rugby league and was a member of the Sydney-based, Canterbury Bulldogs under-20 Holden Cup side in 2009 and 2010. He moved back to New Zealand for 2011 and linked up with the Massey University rugby union team, before being selected by his local ITM Cup side, Manawatu, debuting during the 2011 season. He quickly established himself as a regular in the Manawatu starting line-ups and although injury limited him to just five appearances in 2013 he was named as a member of the Hurricanes wider training group for the 2014 Super Rugby season. A very impressive ITM Cup campaign in 2014 in which Manawatu topped the Championship division saw him upgraded to the Hurricanes official squad for 2015.

Milner-Skudder has not been capped for Manawatu since 2014, due to the 2015 All Blacks campaign as well as injuries.

Milner-Skudder sustained a serious shoulder injury against the Blues in March 2016, requiring surgery to be performed. This mean he missed out on the rest of the Hurricanes' successful Super Rugby campaign that year- which saw the Hurricanes win the title after beating the Lions of South Africa in the 2016 Super Rugby final. Milner-Skudder's injury, along with Julian Savea's poor form saw the Hurricanes back-line change extensively throughout the campaign, before settling for Jason Woodward and former All Black Cory Jane on the wings, while James Marshall was shifted to fullback.

Milner-Skudder began training with Manawatu for the 2016 ITM Cup, but did not play as he had not recovered properly.

International career

Of Ngāti Porou and Tapuika descent, Milner-Skudder was called up to the Māori All Blacks squad for their 2014 end-of-year tour of Japan. He was selected for the All Blacks in 2015. He scored two tries for the All Blacks in his first Test against Australia in Sydney on 8 August 2015; Milner-Skudder was, along with Sonny Bill Williams, one of two former Bulldogs in the All Blacks team. He later roomed with Williams in Britain after being selected to play at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Milner-Skudder went on to win the 2015 Rugby World Cup with New Zealand where he was named by the Guardian as one of the players of the tournament.

In May 2016, Milner-Skudder did not make the All Blacks squad for the three test series against Wales due to injury. Milner-Skudder, Charlie Ngatai, James Broadhurst and Sonny Bill Williams were all not considered for selection due to injury for the rest of the entire year. Milner-Skudder returned to Super Rugby in 2017 but had an ankle injury in round three. The injury meant missing out on selection for the All Blacks against the British and Irish Lions, but Milner-Skudder was selected for the Maori All Blacks instead. However, Milner-Skudder was selected for the 2017 Rugby Championship. He played his first test in nearly two years against Argentina in New Plymouth, where he scored a try in the All Blacks 39-22 win.