Charlie Ngatai (born 17 August 1990) is a New Zealand-born 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 ...

footballer who plays as a Midfield Back, although he can also cover other backline positions. Ngatai is currently playing for Leinster in Ireland, having previously been Captain of the Chiefs,

Taranaki Rugby Football Union Taranaki Rugby, previously the Taranaki Rugby Football Union, is the governing body for rugby union in Taranaki Region, Taranaki, New Zealand; Taranaki is a Regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand that covers areas in the districts of New P ...

and of the

Māori All Blacks The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing i ...

internationally. Ngatai made his debut for the All Blacks in 2015. He only played one test for New Zealand due to injury impacting his form.

Early and personal life

Ngatai was born in Gisborne to Kirk and Lisa Ngatai. He is of Ngati Porou and Te Whanau-a-Apanui and Te Whakatohea

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

. Ngatai attended

Gisborne Boys' High School Gisborne Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school situated in Gisborne, New Zealand. It was founded as a co-educational school in 1909 as Gisborne High School. In 1956, the school became Gisborne Boys' High School when it was split into two ...

where he captained the First XV rugby team. In 2007 Ngatai attended the Sydney Youth Olympics as a sprinter where he competed in the 100m and 4 × 100 m relay. Ngatai has since become well known in Rugby for his incredible pace and ball-handling skills. Ngatai is father to two girls, Kerehi and Makaea.

Professional career

In 2008, Ngatai made his first class provincial debut at age 18 for Poverty Bay against Wanganui. He made his

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 ...

debut the following year with

Wellington Lions The Wellington Rugby Football Union (known as the Wellington Lions for competition reasons) are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington Region. The main stadium is Sky Stadium (formerly named West ...

. Ngatai played for Wellington until 2013. Ngatai had a successful stint with Wellington and was signed to the Hurricanes during his time there, as well as making his debut for the Māori All Blacks in 2012. In Super Rugby, Ngatai represented the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

from 2011, until shifting to the Chiefs as midfielder in 2013. The move to the Chiefs proved useful for his career, as he was handed the captaincy for the first time during the 2014 tour of Japan. In 2014 he also shifted to Taranaki to play for them in the

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...

. At the end of the 2014 season, Ngatai was a nominee for the Tom French Memorial Maori Player of the Year at the Steinlager Rugby Awards. He also captained the Māori All Blacks against Fiji in Suva on 11 July 2015. Only three days prior, on 8 July 2015, Ngatai 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 when he replaced fellow debutant

George Moala George Moala (born 5 November 1990), is a professional rugby union player currently playing for Clermont Auvergne in the French Top 14, having previously played in New Zealand for both Auckland and the Blues. Early career Moala attended Tamaki ...

66 minutes into a one-off test against Samoa in Apia. Ngatai was outstanding in the 2015 season, but was not selected for New Zealand when they named the All Black squad for the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

. After being the best-performing Super Rugby player by a clear distance in 2016, Ngatai was re-selected for the All Blacks' 32-man squad to face Wales in the three-test Steinlager series. Ngatai unfortunately withdrew from the squad due to a failure to recover from concussion. Ngatai was replaced in the squad by Moala. Ngatai never made the field for New Zealand again, with his form crippled by injury. After sustaining the head knock against the Highlanders in May 2016, Ngatai not only missed the Steinlager series, but also remainder of the 2016 season due to ongoing concussion symptoms. During this time he contemplated retiring from rugby. however he returned to the professional game in May 2017. Ngatai recovered from concussion in time to make the Māori All Blacks' squad to face the touring

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

side in 2017 after spending almost a year out from professional rugby due to injury. Ngatai started for the Māori All Blacks against the Lions on 17 June 2017 at inside centre and lasted the full 80 minutes of their 10–32 loss to the Lions. Ngatai managed to re-gain his place as a regular starter for the Chiefs, starting at inside centre for them in the playoffs before they lost their semi-final to the Crusaders 13–27 on 29 July 2017. Prior to the start of the

2018 Super Rugby season The 2018 Super Rugby season was the 23rd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. After two seasons in which 18 teams participate ...

, Ngatai announced that he and his family would leave New Zealand for France so that Ngatai could further his playing career. It was confirmed that Ngatai had signed with

Lyon OU Lyon Olympique Universitaire or LOU is a French rugby union team based in Lyon that currently competes in the Top 14, the highest level of the country's professional league system, having been most recently promoted for the 2016–17 season af ...

, home to fellow former All Black

Rudi Wulf Rudi Wulf (born 2 February 1984) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays for Lyon in the French Top 14. He previously played for Toulon and Castres Olympique. Wulf has also played for North Harbour in the Air New Zealand Cup and the Auc ...

. Ngatai spent his final season with the Chiefs as Co-Captain alongside flanker and former All Black teammate

Sam Cane Samuel Jordan Cane (born 13 January 1992) is a New Zealand rugby union rugby player. His regular playing position is as a loose forward. He currently plays for Chiefs and Bay of Plenty. Cane made his international debut for New Zealand in 20 ...

. Ngatai played in most games for the Chiefs in 2018, missing a few due to separate injuries. Ngatai played his final match for the Chiefs on 20 July, losing to the Hurricanes. The Chiefs scored a late consolation try in the 80th minute of the game, with Ngatai given the kicking duty. Ngatai converted the kick, making the score a 31–32 loss for the Chiefs.

References