KEY POINTS:
One holds the world record for tests, another is New Zealand's record try-scorer and the third is one of the greatest players ever to pull on a Kiwis jersey.
Ruben Wiki, Nigel Vagana and Stacey Jones have played a total of 139 tests but last night's Tri Nations final is the last time all three play together at the highest level.
Kiwis coach Brian McClennan confirmed Wiki, Jones and Vagana had all played their last game for New Zealand.
An emotional Wiki told the post match press conference it was the right time to bow out.
He now wanted to spend more time with his wife and two young children.
McClennan said the departure of the three would leave a massive void in the team next year.
There have been a couple of false starts, with Jones having gone into self-imposed retirement a couple of times.
Wiki, Jones and Vagana had all hinted recently they might call time on their illustrious careers.
"It will probably be my last time in the Kiwi jersey," Jones said this week, while Vagana told the Herald on Sunday last month that it "might be time for me to step aside and give these young boys a go".
With the World Cup in Australia in 2008, the three probably feel the time is right to let Kiwis coach Brian McClennan build for the future.
The Tri Nations final was an appropriate stage for their farewell. Given it has been six years since the last World Cup, the Tri Nations has become the pinnacle of the game.
All three had been earmarked to reach these heights when they emerged in the early 1990s and quickly accumulated the silverware to match their talents.
Wiki went to Otara's Sir Edmund Hillary College where, he admits, he quite enjoyed sewing and cooking, before controversially signing with Canberra in 1993 despite having already committed to the Warriors.
Vagana and Jones were products of St Paul's College and were pivotal in bringing the Commonwealth Cup, a transtasman challenge cup for schoolboy rugby league, to the Grey Lynn school in 1993.
The Commonwealth Cup is still sitting proudly in the school's trophy cabinet, with St Paul's never having been challenged for it. The Australians preferred to invent another rather than fork out the cost of travelling to New Zealand to win it back.
It's a symbol of the school's rugby league success - a success that has delivered Mark Graham, Dane O'Hara, Mark Elia, Francis Meli, David Solomona and Jerome Ropati, along with 10 New Zealand titles in 13 years.
But it was that 1993 team that principal Denys Marra looks back on fondly. The team, fielding Jones and Nigel Vagana (cousin Joe Vagana was away in the UK with the Junior Kiwis), travelled to Sydney's Brookvale Oval and beat Parramatta's Marist Brothers to win the Commonwealth Cup.
Playing on the wing, Nigel Vagana had terrorised the Australian side all day with his speed and footwork but trailing and with just seconds left on the clock, Jones and his halves partner Greg Wolfgramm concocted a reverse pass that sent Jones 50m for the winning try.
"The Australians got such a big fright," remembers Marra, who travelled with the side to Sydney in 1993.
"We were playing the top Australian school and we beat them. Stacey and Nigel were both cool, calm schoolboys and well ahead of their age on a football field.
"We knew they were pretty good but I never knew how good they could be because you can often see flash-in-the-pan stuff at schoolboy level. They were also very stubborn, which was a strength, and were loyal to the school - Stacey was married in the school chapel - and were good workers when it came to their schooling."
Jones occasionally appeared on the wing for the St Paul's 1st XV but usually played league for his Point Chevalier club on weekends.
Jones was drafted into the Auckland Vulcans for the inaugural Lion Red Cup in 1994. Former Kiwi Gary Prohm was coach of that team and had included the 17-year-old Jones in his squad on the recommendation of Point Chevalier.
"I gave him a game or two and while he played OK, he was like any 17-year-old making the jump into the top grade so I put him back down to club level," Prohm remembers.
"I think he was a bit overwhelmed by the older guys in those first few weeks but I watched him a couple of times for Point Chev and he controlled the game. He had an absolutely lethal chip kick, which he doesn't use that much these days.
"When we had an injury in the halves, I brought Jones back for a game against Waikato. I was told by Point Chev that he wouldn't be able to cope because it was too big a jump.
"Well, he scored two tries and set up another couple. He was player of the day and absolutely blitzed them. From that moment on, I watched him very carefully and I knew he was going to be something special."
Prohm didn't have his hands on Jones all that long. With the Warriors about to debut in the Winfield Cup in 1995, the club held trials for their junior and reserve grade teams and it was little surprise when Jones won a contract, along with Nigel and Joe Vagana and Henry and Robbie Paul.
Although most people remember the Warriors' dramatic first-up 25-22 loss to the Broncos on that famous night of March 10, 1995 - and the over-the-top pre-game entertainment - the evening was also significant for Jones and Nigel Vagana.
Both were in the reserve grade side that took on a second-string Brisbane team that included Darren Lockyer, Shane Webcke, Tonie Caroll, Petero Civoniceva, Terry Matterson and Paul Hauff. The Frank Endacott-coached Warriors reserves thrashed the Broncos 36-14 that night, with Jones pulling the strings, chipping in with a try and six goals, while Vagana dotted down for a hat-trick of tries.
It wasn't long before Jones was drafted into the first-grade side and he went on to set numerous club records over the course of his 11-year career.
Vagana's introduction to first-grade rugby league was less auspicious, however.
He finally made his debut in 1996, the club's second season, but was chucked by coach John Monie into the unfamiliar position of fullback against Western Suburbs and had a night to forget. The inevitable early bomb was put up to test Vagana and he spilled it.
"He was always a talented player, Nigel, but John Monie put him at fullback," remembers Endacott.
"It was a pretty big ask for a young fella, at fullback, especially as he had never played there before. He got peppered, made an early blue and had a shocker. He was banished by Monie and we didn't see him again in the first team that season."
Although Vagana was instrumental in helping the Warriors' reserves to the grand final in 1996, scoring a hatful of tries in the process, he journeyed to the UK to try his luck.
Warrington might have finished last in the Super League but Vagana ended the season as the league's leading try-scorer and Endacott had little hesitation in tempting him back to the Warriors in 1997 when the former Kiwis coach took over the first-team duties.
Endacott also had little hesitation in handing Vagana his debut for the Kiwis in 1998.
By this time, Jones had been in the Kiwis for three years, famously displacing Gary Freeman during the 1995 World Cup ("I think Gary still has a chip on his shoulder about that," explains Endacott, who was Kiwis coach at the time).
In a brutal encounter against Australia at North Harbour Stadium that claimed John Lomax in the first 30 seconds and left Jarrod McCracken with 14 stitches in a head wound, Vagana came off the bench to help the Kiwis upset a powerful Kangaroos side 22-16.
Although he didn't score that night, it will be his try-scoring exploits and perhaps his unusual pointed goaties for which he will be best remembered. His test try-scoring record, which stood at 19 before last night's Tri Nations final, will be overtaken one day but it is an appropriate legacy.
"Gee, it's going to be a sad day when the three of them retire because they have been on the scene for so long and done New Zealand proud in every sense of the word," Endacott says.
"We have taken them for granted for so long and we probably won't appreciate what they have achieved until they are gone.
"You wouldn't know with all three of them whether they want to retire or the decision will be made for them but a player usually knows when it's time to go. You can hit the wall very quickly and there's no player in the world who can beat Father Time."
Endacott is unfortunately right. Jones, Vagana and Wiki have beaten plenty of players in their time but it is likely we won't see them beat many more in a Kiwis jersey.
Stacey Jones
Age: 30
Test debut: vs Tonga, 1995 World Cup
est appearances: 46
Jones is the comeback kid after initially retiring from international rugby league in 2004. This time, though, it might be for real.
Nigel Vagana
Age: 31
Test debut: vs Australia, 1998
Test appearances: 38
Vagana holds the New Zealand try-scoring record, with 19 before last night's Tri Nations final.
Ruben Wiki
Age: 33
Test debut: vs Papua New Guinea, 1994
Test appearances: 55
Wiki holds the world record for test appearances but has said he is likely to be available for the Kiwis as long as he's playing NRL.
