All Blacks rookie Plummer emerges from "dark place" with breakthrough season

The year 2024 has been a career one for Blues pivot Harry Plummer.

In what became a theme of his season, the elusive door of opportunity was left ajar by injury and the born-and-bred Aucklander stormed right through it, taking a stranglehold on the Blues No. 10 jersey and steering the side to a drought-breaking Super Rugby Pacific title.

Plummer's sharp fundamentals, radar boot, robust frame, and elite game management as a forwards conduit made him ideally suited to the no-nonsense, pack-based style of play implemented by first-year head coach Vern Cotter.

It's the brand of first-five that typically thrives in the tighter climes of Test rugby, so it was of little surprise when Plummer was called in to the All Blacks on late notice as an injury replacement for the opening Bledisloe Test in Sydney.

Reflecting on his breakthrough season so far, Plummer can't pinpoint exactly what has clicked for him but admits much of it has been based on a whirlwind of cards falling perfectly into place.

While it's all well and good being presented with some fortuitous breaks, you still have to make them count - and Plummer has certainly done that.

"It's been an unbelievable year and I probably haven't been able to sit back and really understand the blessings that have come my way," Plummer told SENZ.

"But I'm really enjoying my rugby and I think that's important. It's one thing to enjoy what you do, but also who you're doing it with.

"I think we had an awesome group at the Blues under a great coaching group, and I felt like I learnt a lot and had to grow up a lot.

"I got opportunity as well. There's no looking past that. I got my shot to lead the Blues through injury, and I got my shot into the All Blacks environment through injury, and then got my Test debut through a sickness.

"It's sort of been a story of my career that you just do the work and wait in the wings and then, you know, when your opportunities present to try and grab them with both hands and run with them."

While he was afforded only a relatively brief taste of Test rugby in his stint off the bench at Accor Stadium, it was enough to corroborate Plummer's own belief that he's able to foot it at the sport's highest echelon.

And it's clear Scott Roberston and his crew have the 26-year-old as a part of their plans, calling him in from the All Blacks XV squad as injury cover for the first leg of the end-of-year tour in Japan. "You need that first taste of it to understand it," Plummer admitted.

"No matter how long it is, you still get that experience of what a Test week looks like, what a build-up looks like, what a warm up looks like, and the crowd atmosphere.

"It definitely adds a lot of confidence. I'm quite a confident sort player when it comes to my own abilities regardless. I'm a big believer that if you've done the work then then you should be ready to go out and do it.

"But being in that environment and being able to experience what a Test week like under the All Blacks for multiple weeks through that Rugby Championship was was definitely a confidence booster."

Making this year's success taste that much sweeter are the hurdles Plummer has had to overcome along the way.

During the early stages of his professional career, those almost inevitable and unforgiving dark clouds of social media backlash descended and - as they tend to do - took a heavy toll on the ambitious youngster, leaving him mired in what he describes as some "dark places."

Negotiating long-term injury was another brutal learning curve for Plummer. A heart condition and a shoulder reconstruction combined to thwart his momentum in 2022, leaving with an unfamiliar sense of purposelessness.

"That's where a lot of my downfall came from - reading stuff or seeing stuff that you shouldn't on social media," he recalled. "As soon as I got off that, it limited people's ability to reach you.

"It's fans and I get it. They're passionate about the sport and their team. But I think sometimes people forget that we're people as well, and we don't go out there to lose. We have families as well that we really want to make proud of."

Leaning heavily on family and discarding social media went a long way to lifting those grey clouds, and his upward trajectory since is testament to a newfound sense of perspective.

"It's probably just being really comfortable in your own skin, knowing what you offer, and knowing who you are as a person and a player, and getting away from that mindset that you have to be someone that you're not.

"But you get knocked down a couple of times, you've got to keep standing up. I wouldn't change my path because it's made, particularly the last couple of months, so much sweeter for me."

One of the most reliable antidotes for golf-mad Plummer during those difficult times was getting out on the links.

Inspired by his own experiences, the keen golfer is now out to raise awareness for men's mental health through his passion for the sport at The Great NZ Tee Off.

From November 22 to December 1, golfers from will descend on more than 180 courses across the length of Aotearoa, having bid on auctioned tee times from which all funds raised go towards men's mental health charity, Movember.

"Golf's a big part of my life and a big part of my journey with mental health," said Plummer.

"I found that golf was a real relief for me in how I could express myself outside of rugby and become a lot more present within rugby.

"I think it's an unbelievable concept for an unbelievable cause. Mental health in New Zealand is a pretty slippery slope and I think we all know, in males especially, it's not talked about enough. There's a real stigma around it that I feel sportsmen can really tap into with their platform.

"My ability to share my experiences, and where I've gotten to and where I'm still continuing on my journey is important to me for someone else that may be feeling the exact same. I think golf's a brilliant vehicle for that."

Having long used the course as a place to "check in" on both his loved ones and himself, it's a platform Plummer is proud to lend his name to.

"It's a perfect way to get out with mates. It doesn't even have to be straight up talking about it but getting out on the course and checking in on each other and having a beer afterwards - really having something to look forward to in a week.

"It's amazing how much that helps."

It's an ongoing process Plummer has - as his highly impressive handicap of two suggests - and will continue, to lean on heavily, as he plies his case for an All Blacks No. 10 jersey which seems as much for grabs as it has been in years.

Between Damian McKenzie's inconsistency and Beauden Barrett's long-term uncertainty, it's crying out for a player to make it his own, and Plummer's name is right in that mix.

Whatever turn his path takes next, you know Plummer will be savouring each moment – primed and ready to seize upon that next opportunity.

"I definitely wouldn't change my journey because it's just made this year and these last couple of months so special for me and my family.

"Seeing the hardships that you go through to get to this point of my career, it's something really special and something I'm really proud of."