Sam Gemmell hails from Ngāti Pāhauwera. He once held the New Zealand record for the highest number of first class games with 145. Fifty-seven of those matches were for New Zealand Māori, the record for the most played by a representative. As George Nepia wrote in his autobiography, ‘He was a great forward. He was a strong, four square sort of build, especially powerful in the shoulders, and he hadn’t a friend in the world, on the other side at any rate, while he was playing.’