Date of birth | 1 May 1947 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Place of birth | Wellington, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 71 kg (157 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Wellington College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
University | Victoria University of Wellington | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Mark Sayers (born 1 May 1947) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A second five-eighth, Sayers represented Wellington at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1972 to 1973. He played 15 matches for the All Blacks but did not appear in any internationals. [1]
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for their international success, the All Blacks have often been regarded as one of the most successful sports teams in history.
The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has varied, as has the number of matches played in each tournament, but it currently consists of an annual three-match series, reduced to a two-match series in World Cup years, with two of the matches counting towards The Rugby Championship. New Zealand have had the most success, winning the trophy in 2024 for the 52nd time and 22nd in succession, while Australia have won the trophy 12 times.
Sir Colin Earl Meads was a New Zealand rugby union player. He played 55 test matches, most frequently in the lock forward position, for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks, from 1957 until 1971.
Jonah Tali Lomu was a New Zealand professional rugby union player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential players in the history of the sport, and as one of the most talented sportsmen ever. Lomu is considered to have been the first true global superstar of rugby, and consequently had a huge impact on the game.
The Australia men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the touring British Isles team.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to the International Rugby Football Board, now known as World Rugby, the governing body of rugby union for the world. It dropped the word "Football" from its name in 2006. The brand name New Zealand Rugby was adopted in 2013. Officially, it is an incorporated society with the name New Zealand Rugby Union Incorporated.
Richard Hugh McCaw is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captained the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugby Player of the Year award a joint record three times and was the most capped test rugby player of all time from August 2015 to October 2020. McCaw was awarded World Rugby player of the decade (2011–2020) in 2021. McCaw is also a winner of the New Zealand sportsman of the decade award.
Daniel William Carter is a New Zealand retired rugby union player. Carter played for the Crusaders in Super Rugby and for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks. He is the highest point scorer in test match rugby, and is considered by many experts as the greatest ever first five-eighth (fly-half) in the history of the game. He was named the International Rugby Board Player of the Year in 2005, 2012 and 2015.
Va'aiga Lealuga Tuigamala Pulelua Fesola'i, sometimes known as Inga Tuigamala, was a professional rugby union and rugby league footballer. Born in Samoa, he represented New Zealand in rugby union, winning 19 caps, and later Samoa in both rugby league and rugby union. He played in one rugby league and two rugby union World Cups.
Bradley Carnegie Thorn is a New Zealand Australian rugby union coach and former rugby league and rugby union footballer. Born in New Zealand, he represented Australia in rugby league and New Zealand in rugby union in a twenty-two year career as a player, starting at age nineteen and finishing at age forty-one. He was the head coach of the Australian Super Rugby Pacific team, the Queensland Reds. Thorn is their second longest-serving coach in history and their longest serving coach in the professional era.
The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing is that the player has Māori whakapapa (genealogy). In the past this rule was not strictly applied; non–Māori players who looked Māori were often selected in the team. These included a few Pacific island players and a couple of African descent. Today all players have their ancestry verified before selection in the team.
The Manawatu Rugby Football Union (MRU) serves as the governing body of the sport of rugby union in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand.
Gavin Lyle Hill is a New Zealand former rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, and coached rugby union the 2000s. He resided in Wellington for 10-years before moving back to Auckland in 2008 to take a coaching position in the Air New Zealand Cup.
The Heartland XV is one of several New Zealand representative rugby union teams, although it is at a lower level than the All Blacks and the Māori All Blacks. The side is drawn exclusively from players for provincial unions that compete in the Heartland Championship, a nominally amateur domestic competition below the fully professional Mitre 10 Cup.
The Cavaliers was an unofficial New Zealand rugby union team which toured South Africa in 1986. Because of the Apartheid policies of the South African government, the official New Zealand Rugby Union tour scheduled for 1985 was cancelled, and the Cavaliers tour was very controversial in New Zealand.
Mark William Shaw is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A flanker, Shaw represented Horowhenua, Manawatu and Hawke's Bay provincially and the All Blacks internationally. He was educated at Kāpiti College.
Rene Mark Nelson Ranger is a New Zealand rugby union player. Ranger plays the positions of wing and centre.
The 1972–73 New Zealand rugby union tour of the Britain, Ireland, France and North America was a collection of rugby union test match games undertaken by the All Blacks against England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France. The tour also took in several matches against British, Irish, French and North American club, county and invitational teams. This was the seventh tour of the Northern Hemisphere. It was also the first time the All Blacks lost to the invitational Barbarians team.
The 1960 New Zealand rugby union tour of South Africa, was a series of rugby union matches played by the New Zealand national rugby union team in South Africa and Rhodesia.
Mark Evander Tele'a is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a Wing for the Blues in Super Rugby and North Harbour in the Bunnings NPC.