Chris Tuatara-Morrison (born Chris Tuatara, 11 September 1986) is an Australian rugby union footballer. His regular playing position is inside-centre. He previously played for the Western Force 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 ...

, and currently plays in the French Top 14 league for

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of oc, Briva la Galharda) is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglomeration was 75 ...

Early life

Chris Tuatara was born in Hastings, New Zealand. He was raised by his mother Moana Tuatara and moved with her to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia, when he was a young boy. He did not know the identity of his father, Howard Morrison Jnr (son of the entertainer

Sir Howard Morrison Sir Howard Leslie Morrison (18 August 1935 – 24 September 2009) was a New Zealand entertainer. From 1964 until his death in 2009, he was one of New Zealand's leading television and concert performers. Early life Of Māori (Te Arawa), Irish ...

), until he was 13 years old. Later as an adult, Chris Tuatara changed his name to Chris Tuatara-Morrison. In Sydney, young Chris Tuatara played junior rugby league for the

Asquith Magpies The Asquith Magpies Rugby League Football Club is an Australian rugby league football club based in Asquith, New South Wales formed in 1953. They previously competed in the NSW Ron Massey Cup competition and the Sydney Shield. Asquith are curre ...

club. He played rugby union for

Turramurra High School Turramurra High School is a large public comprehensive co-educational high school of approximately 1177 students, operated by the New South Wales Department of Education, located in South Turramurra, a residential area on the Upper North Shore o ...

. During his final year at Turramurra in 2004, he was selected to represent New South Wales II at the Australian Schools Rugby Championships.

Career

Rugby League

In 2005, Chris Tuatara played NSWRL Premier League for the North Sydney Bears (then affiliated with Melbourne Storm). For the following season, 2006, he was signed by

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

club

Canterbury Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

. He made two First Grade trial appearances against Cronulla Sharks and New Zealand Warriors and then played in the NSWRL Premier League for the Bulldogs. Chris Tuatara-Morrison then had several seasons in the New South Wales Cup. In 2008, he played for Balmain Ryde-Eastwood (affiliated with Wests Tigers). Then in 2009 and 2010, he played for Newtown Jets (affiliated with Sydney Roosters). In 2011, he played for Western Suburbs Magpies (affiliated with Wests Tigers).

Rugby Union

Between rugby league seasons, Tuatara-Morrison had brief stints playing rugby union. He played some Shute Shield matches for Gordon in 2009 in Sydney. In 2011 in England he played for National 3 South West club Oxford Harlequins before his season was cut short with a broken foot. In 2012,

Scott Fava Scott Fava (born 19 January 1976 in Kiama, Australia) is an Australian retired rugby union footballer. Super 14 Scott Fava began his Super Rugby career with the Queensland Reds in 1999, playing for three seasons before moving on to the ACT Bru ...

, coach of

Northern Suburbs Rugby Club Northern Suburbs Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club in Sydney, Australia, that was formed in 1900 from the merger of the Pirates and Wallaroos clubs. The club competes in the Shute Shield competition run by the New South Wales Rugby Union ...

, convinced Tuatara-Morrison to focus on playing rugby union. He turned down a contract with French rugby league club Catalans and his impressive performances for Northern Suburbs in the 2012 Shute Shield competition led to

franchise Western Force signing him to a two-year contract until 2014.

France

Tuatara signed a three-month deal with

Castres Olympique Castres Olympique () is a French rugby union club located in the Occitanian city of Castres and is currently competing in the top level of the French league system. Founded in 1898, the club took its current name in 1906. They play at the Sta ...

in August 2014 as cover for injured former All Black Sitiveni Sivivatu, before joining

in November 2014.

References

External links

It's Rugby stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuatara-Morrison, Chris Living people 1986 births New Zealand emigrants to Australia Australian rugby union players Rugby union centres Western Force players Castres Olympique players CA Brive players Colomiers Rugby players Rugby union players from Hastings, New Zealand Australian expatriate rugby union players in France Gordon RFC players