Angus James Macdonald (born 12 January 1981 in Whangarei) is a retired

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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 ...

footballer. Macdonald has played for

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

, New Zealand Maori 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 ...

in a career that began in 2001. Angus Macdonald is known for his versatility, as he has played in various positions in the forwards including

Lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

, Flanker and Number 8. It was this ability to play multiple positions capably that led to his selection in the 2005 Northern Hemisphere tour, he joined

Chris Masoe Chris Masoe (born 15 May 1979 in Savaii, Western Samoa) is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer, who last played for Racing Metro 92 in the Top 14 and a current professional boxer. He is the brother of boxer Maselino Masoe. He was born ...

Neemia Tialata Neemia Stanley Tialata (born 15 July 1982 in Lower Hutt, New Zealand) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer. He currently plays for Stade Toulousain in the Top 14. As well as representing New Zealand from 2005 - 2010, he also played for the H ...

Isaia Toeava Isaia "Ice" Toeava (born 15 January 1986) is a professional rugby union player from New Zealand. Early career Toeava was born in Samoa but moved to New Zealand in 1994 to live with his grandmother. He attended De La Salle College, Mangere Eas ...

as All Black coach

Graham Henry Sir Graham William Henry (born 8 June 1946) is a New Zealand rugby union coach, and former head coach of the country's national team, the All Blacks. Nicknamed 'Ted', he led New Zealand to win the 2011 World Cup. Henry played rugby union for ...

looked to strengthen depth by breaking in players that could take up many positions. Macdonald was part of the champion

Super 14 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 ...

campaign in 2003 and has captained his province; at the young age of 24. Angus comes from a strong rugby bloodline as his father Hamish Macdonald and his uncle

Doug Bruce Doug Bruce (born 1967) is an English-American photographer. He is the subject of Rupert Murray's 2005 documentary film '' Unknown White Male''. Bruce claims to suffer from an extremely rare, and possibly purely psychological, form of retrograde a ...

played for the

, while another uncle Roddy Macdonald played for Northland and his brother was a Canterbury Colt. Macdonald signed for

for the season 2012–13 in a two-year deal. While with the provincial Glasgow club he was affiliated to

Aberdeen GSFP RFC Aberdeen Grammar School FP RFC, also known as Aberdeen Grammar, are an amateur rugby union club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They currently compete in the . The club plays its home games at Rubislaw in the city's west end. Honours *Scottish N ...

. He retired from rugby union due to a neck injury in February 2013. He played 4 games for the

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

club.

Notes and references

External links

* 1981 births Living people Rugby union flankers Auckland rugby union players New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Māori All Blacks players New Zealand people of Scottish descent Blues (Super Rugby) players Glasgow Warriors players Aberdeen GSFP RFC players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Expatriate rugby union players in Scotland New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Scotland New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Japan Toyota Verblitz players Coca-Cola Red Sparks players Rugby union players from Whangārei {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1980s-stub