Aaron Joseph Douglas Mauger (last name pronounced "Major"; born 29 November 1980) is a New Zealand professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

coach and former player. He played at

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

Playing career

Born in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, Mauger played

first five-eighth In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

and

second five-eighth Second five-eighths, or sometimes second five-eighth, is a name used in New Zealand to refer the rugby union position commonly known elsewhere as the inside centre or number 12. It traditionally described a playmaking type of 12 with good passin ...

for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

(

Air New Zealand Cup The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

), the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

(

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

) and the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

. He joined the

at the end of the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

after signing a two-and-a-half-year contract with the English side. Mauger captained the New Zealand under-21 team to success in the international under-21 tournaments in 2000 and 2001. He made his All Blacks debut in 2001. He is the younger brother of

Nathan Mauger Nathan Keith Mauger (born 8 April 1978 in Christchurch, New Zealand) is a rugby union player. He spent the entirety of his Super Rugby career with the Canterbury Crusaders. He played for the All Blacks in 2002 in which he played 2 games but nev ...

and his uncles are former All Blacks

Graeme Bachop Graeme Thomas Miro Bachop (born 11 June 1967) is a former rugby union footballer from New Zealand. He is of Samoan, Tahitian and Cook Islands heritage. Career Bachop made his All Blacks debut against Japan B in Tokyo on 21 October 1987, his firs ...

and Stephen Bachop. His great-uncle,

Ivan Mauger Ivan Gerald Mauger (4 October 1939 – 16 April 2018) was a New Zealand motorcycle speedway rider. He won a record six World Championships (Finals), a feat equalled only with the inclusion of the Speedway GP Championships by Tony Rickardsson ...

, was a six-time Speedway World Champion. In March 2010, Mauger announced his retirement due to a back injury. He had attended clinics in the United Kingdom and Germany in his bid to overcome the injury but had been unable to complete training sessions without breaking down.

Coaching

In June 2010, Mauger returned with his family to live in his native New Zealand, where he hoped to remain involved with rugby union in a coaching role. Following a period of coaching with the Crusaders, it was announced that Mauger had signed a three-year deal (starting in the 2015–16 season) with Leicester Tigers for the vacant head coach role. The role was previously held by Matt O'Connor who left in 2013 to be head coach at Leinster.

Highlanders

On 1 August 2017 Mauger was named head coach of the Highlanders, taking over from previous head coach Tony Brown. For the 2018 Super Rugby season the Highlanders won 10 of 16 games, with points for 437 to 445 against, to be placed 6th. They lost to the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the state, ...

23–30 in their Quarter Final match at Sydney. His assistant coaches were

Mark Hammett Mark Garry 'Hammer' Hammett (born 13 July 1972) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player. Having represented Canterbury provincially 76 times, and the Crusaders 81 times and the All Blacks 30 times – including 29 Test matches, Hamme ...

and

Glenn Delaney Glenn Delaney (born 16 November 1973) is a New Zealand professional rugby union football coach. He was recently the head coach of the Pro14 side Scarlets. He had previously been assistant coach to Brad Mooar at the Scarlets Previously he had bee ...

. In the 2019 season the Highlanders under Mauger won 6 and drew 2 matches (Chiefs, Bulls) and were awarded a 0–0 draw for their scheduled match against the Crusaders which was cancelled due to the Christchurch Mosque shootings. This placed them 8th. The points scored were 441 and 392 against. They lost their Quarter final to the eventual champions, the Crusaders, by 14–38 at Christchurch. Clarke Dermody had joined Hammett and Delaney as an Assistant Coach. In a 2020 season disrupted by COVID-19, the Highlanders won 1 (the

Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005–2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the brumby, feral horses whi ...

at Canberra) of their 5 Super Rugby games and they were awarded a 0–0 draw for their cancelled match against the Jaguares. They had a points for and against deficit of 91 to 163, prior to cessation of that competition. During

Super Rugby Aotearoa Super Rugby Aotearoa currently named the Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa for sponsorship purposes is a professional men's rugby union national club competition in New Zealand. Originally created to supplement the 2020 Super Rugby season, which was sus ...

the Highlanders were 4th after winning 3 from 8 and a points deficit of 197 points for to 227 against. Riki Flutey had joined as assistant coach. Mauger's head coach position was not renewed and he was replaced by Tony Brown.

References

External links

*
Tigers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mauger, Aaron 1980 births New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand rugby union coaches New Zealand people of Cook Island descent New Zealand people of Samoan descent New Zealand people of French Polynesian descent New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England Canterbury rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players Leicester Tigers players Rugby union centres Rugby union fly-halves People educated at Christchurch Boys' High School Living people Leicester Tigers coaches Bachop-Mauger family