ru_nationalcaps superyears birth_date ru_provinceyears allblackno ru_nationalyears ru_provincecaps ru_nationalteam ru_province ru_nationalpoints school ru_position name allblackid fullname birth_place height nickname super weight article_title
11 1996 ; 2000 & ndash ; 2001 1997 , & nbsp ; 1998 , & nbsp 11 april 1971 1990 2001 & ndash ; 1993 1994 & ndash ; 916 1992 , & nbsp ; 1997 , & nbsp ; 2001 & ndash ; 1992 & ndash ; 1995 36 75 nz māori new zealand counties & nbsp ; manukau waikato -lrb- 0 -rrb- manurewa high school lock mark `` cowboy '' cooksley 175 mark stephen `` cowboy '' bill cooksley auckland , new zealand 2.05 0 `` rigger '' `` cowboy '' chiefs hurricanes 125 kg stlb on mark cooksley

mark cooksley

mark stephen `` cowboy '' bill cooksley -lrb- born 11 april 1971 in auckland , new zealand -rrb- is a former professional rugby union player and all black lock cooksley holds the distinction of being the tallest all black ever at an imposing 2.05 metres and 125 kg .
he had a long all black career , spanning from 1992 until 2001 .
despite this , cooksley only played in 23 all black matches , and only 11 all black tests.robin brooke and ian jones were often the favoured locking pair during his time because of the average but better skill level .
in 1995 , cooksley gained another distinction when he was a replacement on the end of year tour of france ; in his one appearance on tour he became the first all black to be shown a yellow card , with irish referee gordon black apparently unaware that the red and yellow card system did not then apply to international rugby .
he now resides as a cowboy in hamilton as a decedent of ngāpuhi saw him regularly play for new zealand māori from 1992 onwards .
