First Rugby World Cup appearance for Scottish-born player ends in 12-11 defeat for New Zealand’s Finlay Christie

Borders-born New Zealand scrum-half Finlay Christie following his side's 12-11 Rugby World Cup final loss to South Africa at the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday (Photo by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images)

Scotland fans and players had been hoping that claim to fame would go to Hawick’s Darcy Graham or Rory Sutherland but head coach Gregor Townsend’s side’s pool-stage exit following losses to the Springboks and Ireland left Christie, 28, as the region’s sole representative at the tournament in France.

Born, like Sutherland, 31, at the Borders General Hospital near Melrose, Christie was brought up by father Chris, from Inverness, and mum Liz, from Teviothead, in Peebles at first but has lived in New Zealand for over two decades as, after a year up in Aberdeen, he emigrated with his family at the age of seven to Pukekohe in South Auckland.

Having played for Tasman, Hamilton’s Chiefs, Wellington’s Hurricanes and, since 2020, for Auckland’s Blues, he made his debut for the All Blacks in a 102-0 home win against Tonga in 2021 and has picked up a further 20 caps since, the most recent coming at the weekend.

That was his fourth appearance of 2023’s world cup, also coming off the bench for New Zealand’s opening loss to France, win versus Uruguay and semi-final knockout of Argentina.

Christie, like Graham and Sutherland, might still be waiting for his world cup final debut, however, had he opted to play for the land of his birth rather than his homeland of the last 21 years, having been approached by the Scots’ exile network, like New Zealand’s Sean Lineen, Glenn Metcalfe, Brendan Laney and Sean Maitland before him and England’s Hamish Watson and Cameron Redpath and South Africa’s Duhan van der Merwe and Kyle Steyn in the current Scottish squad.

Recalling that approach last year, he said: “It was a wee one, but it was sort of through Covid and things didn’t really work out, so I guess I’m happy where I stayed and it’s worked out quite well so far.”

Having opted for the side that had won 29 of the nations’ 31 meetings at that stage since 1905, drawing the other two, Christie took part in their 30th victory, by 31-23 at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium in November last year, with Graham, 26, scoring a try for the hosts, also featuring fellow ex-Green Stuart Hogg.

That wasn’t the first time he’d faced fellow Borderers on a rugby pitch, though, as he was in the Chiefs team beaten 34-6 by a British and Irish Lions touring side including Jedburgh’s Greig Laidlaw in June 2017.