[Article] Who Will Join The 100 Cap Club?

33 of our greatest NT players are members already. With the international season just around the corner we look at who might just join the club in Season 26.

If you'd like you can see a list of the 33 members over on the offsite. Some classics of BRNZ are represented there.

Edmund Verigotta -- English born but Kiwi as. Verigotta should join the club in no time with 96 caps to his name. While born in England, Verigotta's potential was spotted by club You'll Never Walk Alone and bought over to New Zealand for $500k. He joined the U20 squad as soon as he was eligible and would make his first appearance with the All Blacks in Season 18.

Fionn MacIlrea -- A lifelong member of the Hautapu Hopefools. MacIlrea has known nothing other than the Hopefools and New Zealand. Stories grew that as a kid, Fionn would spend hours watching Hopefool and NZ matches on his black and white television (WHERE ON EARTH DID HE GET THAT?). He came from the Hopefools academy and has been with them since the age of 17, racking up nearly 400 appearances with the club. At 30 years old, he's the same generation as Verigotta and only has 7 caps to earn before he hits 100.

Zach Cassell -- An older player than the previous two on this list. Cassell's international career has been a slightly slower burn than MacIlrea or Verigotta. Cassell was a member of the Season 13-14 U20 campaign rather than Season 15-16 but ended up making his international debut at the same time as the young ones in Season 18. While it looks like Cassell will join the 100 cap club, his time afterwards will be short-lived. Like MacIlrea, Cassell has been a lifelong member of his club: The Broad Spur Suns, a club that currently features two other All Blacks (including Nicholas Bowley -- a member of the 100 cap club)

Nasoni Whakapapa -- Whakapapa might be a stretch to make the club. He's sitting on 84 caps at the moment so he might need to wait until next season to join. He's by far the youngest on the list at 27 years old (28 in a couple of weeks) and certainly the most imposing at 205cm/126kg. To continue the trend, he's also a lifelong member of his club: The Fellas (where's he only a few games off 400 caps there). Whakapapa has always been slightly special. He made his debut for the U20 squad at the age of 18 rather than the traditional age of 19 and made his debut for the All Blacks at the young age of 21. A bit ahead of the curve.