Phil Coffin undoubtedly had long since given up hope of becoming an All Black when he received an unexpected call up to tour South Africa with the 1996 side. He was nearly 32 at the time and so became one of the few players to make a debut for the All Blacks when past 30. A specialist tighthead prop, Coffin came from a prominent King Country rugby family and had been a mainstay in packs for that union since coming into the representative side in 1985. A Waitete club-mate of Colin Meads, Coffin also played under the coaching of the great man for New Zealand Colts in 1985. By the 1996 season Coffin had played a record 142 games for King Country, a staggering number considering that he missed all of the 1988 season while he was playing in Auckland. He made the immensely powerful Auckland representative squad but never took the field. Coffin's strength and scrummaging prowess gained him representative honours in a number of national selections. He was a regular All Black trialist between 1987 and 1996, he was in a New Zealand XV which met England B in 1992, in New Zealand Maori sides between 1991 and 1997 and in the Divisional XV of 1991-92. His career received a boost, and eventual recognition as an All Black, with the introduction of official professionalism in 1996. Coffin was drafted to the Hurricanes for the Super 12 and in the next two seasons made 22 appearances for the Wellington-based franchise. He switched to Wellington for the 1997 NPC but after only six matches he dropped out of top rugby. Coffin's surprise elevation to the All Blacks arose in large measure to a decision to take an enlarged party of 36 on the tour of South Africa as part of the new professional thinking. The test XV were saved solely for the tests and players like Coffin were used for the midweek fixtures. Coffin played the matches against Eastern Province and Western Transvaal and replaced Con Barrell for the last 18 minutes of the game against Griqualand West.