{"id":512445,"date":"2026-07-06T13:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T13:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/512445\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T13:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T13:43:12","slug":"its-not-just-my-dream-xavier-numia-on-all-blacks-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/512445\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It’s not just my dream’: Xavier Numia on All Blacks debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

After making his All Blacks debut, Xavier Numia fulfilled a family belief that never wavered – even when his own did.<\/p>\n

On the back of an exhausting, enthralling first test match against the notoriously physical French<\/a>, the moment Numia saw his family at fulltime, the tears began to flow.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a dream for a long time and I wasn’t sure if I was going to ever achieve it,” Numia said.<\/p>\n

One man, however, never had any doubts. Numia’s grandfather always knew his grandson would be an All Black.<\/p>\n

“As soon as I saw my grandpa he gave me a big hug and obviously shed a few tears. It’s not just my dream, but to bring his and my family’s name on the map and for him to witness it himself was truly special.”<\/p>\n

On Saturday night, Numia became All Black number 1233, when the dynamic prop took the field with 20 minutes remaining in the season opener against France.<\/p>\n

It couldn’t have been more of a cauldron to be thrust into.<\/p>\n

Holding a slender 26-25 lead, the All Blacks found themselves under relentless pressure as France launched a late onslaught, leaving the test on a knife-edge right until the final whistle.<\/p>\n

However, the All Blacks held on for a pulsating 34-32 victory<\/a> to kick off life under new coach Dave Rennie with a win.<\/p>\n

\"All<\/p>\n

Numia alongside Hurricanes teammate Asafo Aumua and fellow debutant Jamie Hannah.<\/p>\n

Chris Symes \/ www.photosport.nz<\/p>\n

Physically drained, Numia then let the emotions pour out.<\/p>\n

“I’m truly grateful that I got to experience that moment with my family who travelled down from Wellington. To see them after was a moment I’ll never forget.”<\/p>\n

To make the occasion even more memorable, Numia was subbed into the game at the same time as Hurricanes teammates and fellow front rowers Asafo Aumua and Tyrel Lomax.<\/p>\n

“To have them by my side was pretty surreal. They made me feel at home and made me feel pretty easy.”<\/p>\n

Numia’s debut also marked the culmination of a journey which started at St Patrick’s College alongside Billy Proctor, who made his All Black debut in 2024 under Scott Roberston.<\/p>\n

“We talked about it last night, our journey from school and where we are right now. To be able to do it with someone like Billy and play a lot of teams with each other is pretty special. I don’t think many people can say they’ve done that with a teammate, especially in the All Blacks.<\/p>\n

“If you asked us 10 years ago that 10 years from our last year of school we’d be playing for the All Blacks together, I’d probably think it’s a joke and think someone’s pranking me. But yeah, now I’m just truly blessed to be able to do it with one of my best mates.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After making his All Blacks debut, Xavier Numia fulfilled a family belief that never wavered – even when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-512445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}