Gordon Leslie Simpson (born 21 September 1971) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

-born

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 it ...

player who played as a loose forward, formerly for Glasgow Caledonians and also representing

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. He was known by the nickname "badger" because of his ability to win the ball close to the ground.

New Zealand domestic career

He began his domestic career in his place of birth,

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

and began playing there for the North Harbour

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

team. Simpson then moved to the Wellington side, the

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 ...

, in the same competition, while also playing for the

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in Super Rugby. Following his International career, Gordon returned to the North Harbour team, captaining it on a few occasions, one of which being the side's first ever game at its current stadium,

North Harbour Stadium North Harbour Stadium is a stadium situated in Albany, in North Shore City, New Zealand. It was opened in 1997, after nearly a decade of discussion, planning and construction. Rugby union, association football, rugby league, and baseball are ...

. He then retired from first-class rugby, returning to North Harbour's premier grade, having played in the grade more than a decade beforehand.

Scotland domestic career

Moving to Scotland in 1998 he initially played for Kirkcaldy RFC, briefly for

Caledonia Reds Caledonia Reds were a Scottish rugby union professional district team who participated in the Scottish Inter-District Championship and in two seasons of the Heineken Cup. They evolved from one of the traditional four amateur districts of Scotlan ...

, then for Glasgow Caledonians (now

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

International career

He qualified to play for Scotland through his maternal grandfather, who was born in the Knightswood area of Glasgow. He made his debut against Australia in Sydney on 13 June 1998. He played in four matches at the World Cup in 1999. He was recalled to the Scotland side in 2001, after a year where he had been injured. He played in the Six Nations 2000-2001 Championship. He also represented New Zealand in NZ Secondary Schools, NZ U19 and NZ U21 age-grade levels.

References

External links

* 1971 births Living people Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland Glasgow Warriors players Caledonia Reds players Rugby union number eights People from Takapuna 1999 Rugby World Cup players People educated at Rosmini College {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub