 He is also a descendant of Thomas Ellison, captain of New Zealand's first official rugby team in 1893 and a member of the New Zealand Natives football team which toured Great Britain and Australia in 1888–89.In June 2011 he married Meremaraea Cowan at a vineyard in Martinborough.He first saw a picture of Meremaraea when he was a teenager at the home of his rugby coach, who also happened to be her uncle.