Blake Gibson (born 19 April 1995) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a loose forward for in the

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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 career

Born in Auckland, Gibson attended Saint Kentigern College in the city and captained their first XV to victory in their local 1A championship. This led to his selection in the Blues Development XV later in the year.

Senior career

Gibson joined the Auckland

team in his first year out of school and made a total of 9 appearances in his first full season scoring 2 tries. Named again to play in the Auckland side for the

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, he started the opening game of the season at openside flanker, but suffered a knee injury in the first ten minutes that kept him out for the duration of the campaign. The

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

New Zealand domestic season didn't bring much more luck as he mustered 2 tries in 2 matches before again missing the remainder of the year through injury as his Auckland side missed out on the Premiership Play-Offs and finished up in 5th position on the log standings.

Super Rugby

Gibson's first season at provincial level made a big enough impression that he was offered a contract as a member of the wider training squad for the

2015 Super Rugby season The 2015 Super Rugby season was the 20th season of Super Rugby and the fifth season featuring an expanded 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition was known as Asteron Life Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New ...

. He debuted for the Blues against the , on the day before his 20th birthday and was named for his first start against the on 24 May 2015. The

2016 Super Rugby season The 2016 Super Rugby season was the 21st season of Super Rugby and the first season featuring an expanded 18-team format. It was also the first season that teams outside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa featured, with the Jaguares from Ar ...

saw him earn plenty of game time under new head coach, Tana Umaga. He made 9 appearances, 6 of which were from the start and scored his debut Super Rugby try, making easy work of All Blacks fullback Ben Smith by throwing him and 3 other defenders off. Despite his injury struggles during the later half of the year, Gibson was again named in the Blues squad for

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. Gibson is now in the hurricanes playing number 7.

International

Gibson was named to start for an experienced NZ Barbarians side that played against the Maori All Blacks, shortly after the conclusion of the 2015 Super Rugby Season. Playing at openside flanker, he scored the first try of the game in a standout performance. He was also a vital member of the New Zealand under-20 side which won the

2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the eighth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised for the second time in Italy by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations played i ...

. He scored 2 tries in 4 championship games and was named player's player of the day on 3 occasions during the tournament. Gibson was called up to the All Blacks in 2017 as injury cover following Sam Cane's concussion. Gibson has yet to be capped for New Zealand.

Career honours

New Zealand Under-20 * World Rugby Under 20 Championship -

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Super Rugby statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Blake 1995 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Auckland rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Rugby union players from Auckland People educated at Saint Kentigern College Hurricanes (rugby union) players Tokyo Sungoliath players