24 Years ago today, King Carlos made his test debut

24 years ago today, Carlos Spencer made his test debut for the All Blacks scoring 33 points against Argentina.

On this day in 1997, King Carlos made his test debut for the All Blacks scoring 33 points against Argentina 👑
pic.twitter.com/ZNloefMuyg

— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) June 21, 2021

Dubbed as King Carlos, Carlos Spencer first rose to prominence when he starred alongside Christian Cullen in a Ranfurly Shield challenge in 1991, playing for the Horowhenua team against Auckland.

Auckland coach Graham Henry spotted Spencer's talent and recruited him to play for the Auckland team. He played for the Blues Super 12 team from the inception of the competition in 1996 until 2005, and for the Auckland NPC side.

In 1996, Spencer played for the Blues in the first-ever Super 12-match, kicking off the professional era of rugby union. He went on to score 608 points for the Blues in the Super Rugby competition.

He played for the All Blacks as he debuted in a non-test tour match on 4 November 1995, but did not play his first test match until 1997.

His All Black appearances as a starter were somewhat irregular thereafter, as Andrew Mehrtens was generally preferred as the first-choice flyhalf for the side during the period from 1995–2002. He was selected for the 1999 All Blacks World Cup squad but became injured in training at London, so did not play a match in that tournament. However, following an exceptional season for the Blues in Super 12, Spencer became first-choice first five-eighth for the All Blacks in 2003, and was a part of the squad for the Rugby World Cup that year.

Spencer was praised for his creative style of play throughout his career and retired with 35 Test caps and scored 291.