Retired All Blacks with Samoan roots Christian Matthias Cullen is excited to return home and reconnect with his Samoan family and culture.

He flew into Samoa last weekend to appear as a guest on Monday this week on the RWC on Island program which airs every Thursday night in New Zealand on Sky Sports. 

In an interview with the Samoa Observer this week, the All Blacks legend said it was a privilege for him to be a guest on the show, but he was even more elated that he and his 15-year-old son Cole had the chance to strengthen their links with their Samoan heritage.

The 47-year-old confirmed that his grandmother, on his paternal side who has since passed on, is Samoan and is from Siumu. Mr. Cullen visited his family's home in Siumu last weekend with his son.

“It’s been a while and last time I was here I came for my sister's wedding, I came 28 years ago, so yeah it’s been a while,” said Mr. Cullen. “We visited the family here in Siumu back then so it’s taken a while to come back.

“We're here for the Rugby on Island, the rugby show they’re doing during the World Cup, and I've been watching it back home and I really enjoyed it and so I got asked to come over and be on it.

“I guess, it is a good time to come back and I brought my older son over as well so it’s good for him to see the family and what’s that all about. Living in New Zealand, I knew (about Samoan roots) but it’s good to come back and get the full story and seal the pledges at the home and all that sort of staff.

“My father’s mom is my Samoan nana so it’s good to reconnect with everybody and obviously we haven’t seen them in a while and I don’t recognise some people but it’s good to be welcomed back into the village and whenever we come back we know that this is our place.

“I think one of the things when dad, when I said I was coming over, he obviously contacted my nephew and niece here to make sure we went and reconnect with them. It can always be stronger, we live in New Zealand and we don’t sort of get into that but there’s no doubt and that’s why I brought my older boy.

“But as I said before it’s great to be back and there’s no doubt it won’t be another 20 years when I’ll bring the rest of the kids and my wife and yeah it’s beautiful.”

Asked about being on the show this week as one of the guest panellists, he said it was good and he was looking forward to the show.

“There’s a lot of rugby shows on whether in Australia or New Zealand and this is probably one of the better ones just casual and it seems like a lot of fun and they’ve had some good people on. Not too stressful,” he said.

Speaking about the All Blacks RWC quarterfinal match last weekend against Ireland, Mr Cullen said it was a game that worked out well for the All Blacks.

“It was awesome, good for us, good for Kiwis and All Blacks supporters," said the All Blacks legend. "I mean that game could’ve gone either way and it’s probably not the game, just stunned with France like four of the best teams in the world, and you know you take your luck and on that day you win and take a pretty good side.

“I always said they did their best to beat them and they defended well and they got their luck and they tried and all Kiwis scored all the tries, even for the Irish team, the two Kiwi boys scored tries so it was a great game and that’s what rugby needed. The crowds, the atmosphere, and just intense the way the game was played. That’s what we want.”

Looking at the 2023 RWC campaign of the region's two other teams, Manu Samoa and the Flying Fijians, Mr Cullen said both teams could have progressed further and they should be given more opportunities to play tier 1 nations. 

“I do know that a lot of the players here are playing overseas, but the problem with a lot of the island teams, is a lot of their players are overseas so to bring them back and to play for them," he said. "I mean they need to go and play in tier 1 nations and that’s how they get better.

"We’ve seen Manu Samoa at the end of the tournament, they started playing well and even Fiji, they should’ve beaten England because they had a good chance but it’s just hard I don’t know the grassroots stuff.”

According to the ESPN Sports website, the former All Blacks is considered one of the best fullbacks the game has ever produced and was capped 60 times on top of representing top club rugby sides Hurricanes, Wellington and Irish side Munster before retiring in 2007.