Coroner Orders New Zealand Rugby to Disclose 1,091 Documents in Deaths Inquiry

Coroner Ian Telford ordered New Zealand Rugby to disclose 1,091 documents in the joined inquiries into the deaths of former players Shane Christie and Billy Guyton. At a case-management conference on Thursday, November 12, he also required further searches of the organisation’s records and a review of its claims that some material was legally privileged. The documents had previously been assessed as irrelevant. They include concussion research, studies, proposals, strategy material and board minutes. Telford said he was “starting to lose patience”. He required a signed statement from a senior official explaining the organisation’s disclosure efforts, searches of devices and records that could not be found. New Zealand Rugby lawyer Tanzam Hossain said the body had already supplied more than 6,000 documents across the inquiries. Guyton family lawyer Daniel Kalderimis KC challenged the searches, including the omission of text messages, searching for Billy without separately searching for Guyton, and generally excluding records created after Guyton’s death. New Zealand Rugby said it had worked on relevant information for 16 months and was “absolutely committed to transparency”. It said it supported learning from the past and improving player safety. Guyton died in May 2023 and Christie in August 2025. Both had played for the Māori All Blacks and in Super Rugby. The inquiries concern their deaths; no date has yet been fixed for the inquest.