Gareth Anscombe is a rugby union player who plays for the

Wales national rugby union team The Wales national rugby union team ( cy, Tîm rygbi'r undeb cenedlaethol Cymru) represents Wales in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played thei ...

. He primarily plays at

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

but can also play as a fullback. Anscombe, who currently plays for the Ospreys in the

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

, is the son of former

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

coach

Mark Anscombe Mark Anscombe (born 1957) is a New Zealand rugby union coach, having played rugby spanning across 15 years. Anscombe (father of Welsh international Gareth Anscombe) has been a rugby union coach since 1994, coaching various ages and styles in both ...

Early career

Anscombe debuted for Auckland in the 2010 season, in his first year out of school. In 2011, he was the top point scorer at the

IRB Junior World Championship The World Rugby Under 20 Championship (known as the IRB Junior World Championship until 2014) is an international rugby union competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby, and is contested by 12 men's junior nat ...

and retained his place in the Auckland squad.

Super Rugby

Anscombe made his debut for Auckland's

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

in 2012, coming on to replace Michael Hobbs in the round two match against the Chiefs in Hamilton. His starting debut was against the Bulls in round three, in which he scored all of the Blues points in a 29–23 win. Despite compelling form in the 2012 ITM Cup, where his pin-point accurate kicking helped Auckland to a finals appearance against eventual winners Canterbury, the Blues management seemed unmoved, and after John Kirwan took over the coaching of the Blues, Anscombe was delisted. It was announced that he would play for the Chiefs from the 2013 season. In 2013, he signed a contract extension with the Chiefs until 2014.

International career

New Zealand

Anscombe represented New Zealand at under-20 level; he started at first-five when New Zealand won the competition now known as the

World Rugby Under 20 Championship The World Rugby Under 20 Championship (known as the IRB Junior World Championship until 2014) is an international rugby union competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby, and is contested by 12 men's junior nat ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. However, he was not tied to New Zealand at senior level; only an appearance for the All Blacks themselves, or the country's official second-level side, the

Junior All Blacks The All Blacks XV is the second national rugby union team of New Zealand, after the All Blacks. New Zealand's second national team has had numerous names in its history: Junior All Blacks, New Zealand XV, New Zealand A, New Zealand B, All Blacks ...

, would have tied him to that country.

Wales

In April 2014, a report in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

's '' Western Mail'' indicated that

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

head coach

Warren Gatland Warren David Gatland (born 17 September 1963) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player who is currently in his second spell as the head coach of the Wales national team. As head coach of Wales from 2007 to 2019, he won four Six N ...

was seriously considering fast-tracking Anscombe into that country's international set-up, and that the

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms ...

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

were set to offer him a contract starting with the 2014–15 Northern Hemisphere season. Anscombe qualifies for Wales through his Cardiff-born mother. On 20 January 2015, Anscombe was named in the 34-man Wales squad for the

2015 Six Nations Championship The 2015 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2015 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 16th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union tournament. It was contested b ...

. He made his full international debut for Wales versus Ireland on 8 August 2015 as a second-half replacement. On Saturday 16 March 2019, Anscombe was named Guinness Man of the Match having scored 20 points in Wales's 25-7 Grand Slam-winning victory over Ireland at the

Principality Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

References

External links

*
Blues profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anscombe, Gareth 1991 births New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand people of Welsh descent Wales international rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Chiefs (rugby union) players Auckland rugby union players Cardiff Rugby players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union fullbacks People educated at Rosmini College Rugby union players from Auckland Living people New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Wales Ospreys (rugby union) players Expatriate rugby union players in Wales New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Citizens of the United Kingdom through descent Welsh rugby union players