Brad McCormick Weber (born 17 January 1991) is a New Zealand

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 ...

player, who currently plays as a halfback for in the

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

and the 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 ...

Early life

Brother of Napier Marist rugby player Sam Weber and son of Neil Weber. Brad attended St Patrick's school in Napier before moving to Napier Boys’ High School for his secondary school education. Brad played his junior rugby for Napier Old Boys’ Marist and was selected into the Napier Ross Shield team in 2003.

Career

After moving to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

he joined the Dunedin Rugby Football Club (Inc) 'The Sharks' Established in 1871 playing firstly for the Premier Colts side in 2010 and then the Senior Premier side in 2011. He was in the Hawkes Bay ITM side in that year. He played for Dunedin in 2012 and was in the Senior Premier side that were runners up for the Premier Banner. In 2013 the Dunedin Premier side won the Premier 1 Dunedin Metropolitan Club Championship and the club named him Speight's Premier Player of the year. Weber has still referenced his playing days with the 'Sharks' with a 'Fins Up' salute after he has scored for his current team. Weber started his senior career playing for the Razorbacks while studying for an applied science degree at

the University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

. He made nine appearances during the 2012 ITM Cup, but could not dislodge Fumiaki Tanaka as first choice half-back. 2013 did not start well for him as rising-star Josh Renton was named ahead of him in the

team's

ITM Cup ITM may stand for: Education * ITM Global School, an English medium co-educational day school in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India * ITM Law School, one of the professional graduate schools of ITM University * ITM-IFM, Mumbai, India * Institut Tekn ...

squad and he began to focus more on his studies than rugby. However, a month into the season he received a call from coach Johnny Walters who wanted to take him north to provide more competition for halfbacks Mick Snowden and Kylem O'Donnell. His switch was more successful than he could have imagined as a series of good performances saw him named in the wider training group ahead of the

2014 Super Rugby season The 2014 Super Rugby season is the fourth season of the 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as Asteron Life Super Rugby ...

Tawera Kerr-Barlow Tawera Narada James Kerr-Barlow (born 15 August 1990) is an Australian-born New Zealand rugby union rugby player . His regular playing position is scrum-half. He plays for La Rochelle in the Top 14. Kerr-Barlow represented New Zealand under 20 ...

and Augustine Pulu were selected as the defending champions first-choice halfbacks; however, an injury to Kerr-Barlow prior to the season opener against the opened the door for Weber, who made his Super Rugby debut as a second-half substitute in an 18-10 win for the Chiefs. Weber was named captain of the Waikato ITM Cup squad for the 2014 ITM Cup season. and co-captain with Whetu Douglas for the 2015 ITM Cup season. At the end of the 2015 ITM Cup season, after scoring a second half hat trick in the final match against Hawke's Bay to win the

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challeng ...

for Waikato, it was announced that Weber had signed a contract to return to Napier to play for

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

for the 2016 ITM Cup season.

International career

Weber was a member of the New Zealand Under 20 side that won the 2011 IRB Junior World Championship in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. He largely served as back up to TJ Perenara during the competition. Weber made his

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 ...

debut against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

on 8 July 2015. On October 2, 2019, during the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

in Japan, Weber scored his first international try in a pool match against Canada. He scored a second in the same match.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Brad New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves Otago rugby union players Waikato rugby union players Chiefs (rugby union) players 1991 births Living people Rugby union players from Napier, New Zealand People educated at Napier Boys' High School Māori All Blacks players Hawke's Bay rugby union players