Caleb Makene (born 20 April 1996) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as an outside back or fly-half for Utah Warriors in the

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

(MLR). In New Zealand, he most recently played for in the National Provincial Championship competition

Senior career

Born and raised in Napier, Makene attended and played rugby for Napier Boys' High School, captaining their first XV in 2014. After graduating high school, he headed south to attend Lincoln University in Christchurch and study environmental planning and management. While there, he was signed up by the Academy and after 2 years in the Crusaders and Canterbury rugby structures, he was loaned to the Tasman Mako for the

2016 Mitre 10 Cup The 2016 Mitre 10 Cup season was the eleventh season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 18, when North Harbour hosted Counties Manukau. It involved the ...

. Two tries in nine appearances for the Mako helped them reach the final of the 2016 Premiership, in which ironically they were defeated by Makene's parent province, Canterbury. After two seasons playing for , Makene decided in February 2019 to return home to to play for the Magpies. While not initially named in their squad for the

2021 Super Rugby season The 2021 Super Rugby season was the 26th season of Super Rugby, an annual men's international rugby union tournament organised by SANZAAR, involving teams from Australia and New Zealand. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the tournament was wholly reg ...

, Makene was called into the squad as cover for

Vilimoni Koroi Vilimoni Koroi (born 17 April 1998) is a New Zealand rugby union player. Koroi was born to Fijian parents Taniela and Seruwaia in Whanganui and was a student at Feilding High School. Koroi played his first match for the New Zealand national ru ...

, who was training with the

New Zealand Sevens The New Zealand national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. They have won a record twelve World Rugby Sevens Series titles. The team has been o ...

team in preparation of the 2021 Olympics. He made his

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 ...

debut for the Highlanders on 2 April 2021 against the . On 2 December 2021, Makene was named in the Utah Warriors squad for the

2022 Major League Rugby season The 2022 Major League Rugby season is the fifth season of Major League Rugby, the professional rugby union competition sanctioned by USA Rugby. The regular season began on February 5, 2022. The Dallas Jackals made their debut this season, hav ...

International

Makene was a member of the New Zealand Under 20 side which competed in the

2016 Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2016 Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship, was the second edition of the Oceania Rugby Junior Championship. It was played as two tournaments; the Oceania Under 20 Championship hosted on the Gold Coast in Australia, and the Oceania Under 20 Tr ...

as well as the

2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the ninth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in England by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations took part in the tournamen ...

in England, making 5 appearances and scoring 6 tries.

References

External links

New Zealand Rugby History profileAll Rugby profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Makene, Caleb 1996 births Living people Ngāpuhi people People educated at Napier Boys' High School Rugby union players from Napier, New Zealand New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in the United States Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union fly-halves Tasman rugby union players Canterbury rugby union players Hawke's Bay rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players Crusaders (rugby union) players Utah Warriors players