Mark Robinson (rugby union, born 1975)
| Full name | Mark Darren Robinson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 21 August 1975 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Palmerston North, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 14 st 2 lb (90 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Whangarei Boys' High | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mark Darren "Sharky" Robinson (born 21 August 1975 in Palmerston North, New Zealand) is a retired rugby union footballer who internationally for the All Blacks between 1997 and 2001. He played provincial rugby in New Zealand for North Harbour, and Super 12 rugby for the Waikato Chiefs and then the Auckland Blues. He briefly played rugby league for the New Zealand Warriors before moving overseas to play with Northampton and then London Wasps, both in England. He retired from professional rugby in 2010.[1]
He grew up in Whangarei. He emerged as a prospective rugby player when he moved to North Harbour during his teenage years, making the Harbour Colts and New Zealand Colts in 1995. He entered first-class rugby the following year with Harbour. He played for the Chiefs in the international Super 12 competition. In 1997 he toured with the All Blacks and played three games in Europe. The following year he played in a Test against England in Dunedin.
In 1999 he moved to the re-organised Auckland Blues, and appeared five times for New Zealand 'A' that season. In 2000 he also played for the New Zealand 'A' side that toured Europe. In 2001 he was recalled to the All Blacks for the end-of-year tour. He played in matches against Ireland and Scotland 'A', as well as the Test against Scotland. He also played in the Test against Argentina.
In 2003 he signed to play rugby league for the New Zealand Warriors. He played one game at hooker, coming on from the bench.[2] For most of the year he played for the North Harbour Tigers in the 2005 Bartercard Cup. He also played for the Barbarians that year, wearing his Warriors socks.
In 2004 he signed for Northampton in the English Premiership.
On 22 May 2008 he transferred to London Wasps.
In May 2010 Robinson called time on his rugby career after a degenerative knee injury forced him to retire after two seasons at the Wasps.[1] He said "It has been a very difficult season for me and despite every effort to come back, my knee injury is just too severe and too painful to continue". He only played 24 times for the Wasps in his period with the club.
All Blacks statistics
Tests: 3 (0 as Captain)
Games: 5 (0 as Captain)
Total Matches: 8 (0 as Captain)
Test Points: 5pts (1t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)
Game Points: 10pts (2t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)
Total Points: 15pts (3t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)
References
- 1 2 "Wasps scrum-half Mark Robinson retires from rugby". BBC. 1 May 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
- ↑ [Marsh shakes off injury, tipped to play ] Waikato Times, 29 April 2003