Jake Heenan (born 17 March 1992) is a

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 ...

player from

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 ...

. He plays primarily as an

openside flanker Flanker is a position in the sport of rugby union. Each team of 15 players includes two flankers, who play in the forwards, and are generally classified as either blindside or openside flankers, numbers 6 and 7 respectively. The name comes fr ...

. Heenan currently plays for English side

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. He played for Connacht from 2013 to 2018, winning a

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 ...

title with the side in 2016. In March 2020 renewed his contract with Bristol for the 2020/21 season. Having reached the semi-finals of the Gallagher Premiership finals Heenan both captained and played number 8 on a number of occasions. Heenan was integral in the Bears first European trophy with Challenge Cup victory over Toulon. Heenan has represented New Zealand internationally at under-age level. He captained the New Zealand under-20s at the 2012 Junior World Championship

Early life

Heenan was born in Whangarei, and grew up on a farm outside the city with his father and brother, while his mother lived in

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 ...

. By his early teens, his brother had moved out and his father had remarried and had two more children. He graduated from Whangarei Boys' High School and went on to study at Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland. Heenan has worked as an ambassador with Dóchas don Óige, a community-based training service for troubled youths in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

on the back of his own experiences growing up.

Rugby career

Early career

Heenan played rugby from a young age. He was part of the

Northland Rugby Union The Northland Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in Northland, New Zealand; Northland is a region of New Zealand that covers areas in the districts of Far North, Kaipara, and Whangārei. Established in 1920, they represent the ...

's academy as a teenager and was the captain of his school's team. He signed with

, following successes with the New Zealand schoolboys team. He was also part of the

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 ...

development programme and played for the Blues under-18 team when they won the national competition. It was during his time in Auckland that he first met Pat Lam, who later brought him to

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

, which was his first professional club. Heenans brother Ben continues to be a stoic presence as his career has flourished!

Connacht

Heenan signed on a three-year contract for Irish provincial side

in May 2013, joining the team for the 2013–14 season. He joined former

coach Pat Lam, who had been appointed as the team's head coach. Heenan made his debut for the side on 7 September 2013, coming off the bench against

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning "Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by the ...

in the

. His first start came in an Irish provincial derby with

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 ...

, where Heenan played the full 80 minutes. He made his

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

debut on 11 October 2013, starting against

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

. He was named as Connacht's player of the month for October 2013, only one month after his debut. Heenan played the full match at openside flanker for Connacht as they produced one of the biggest shocks in the history of the competition, beating four-time champions

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

in the pool stages in the

Stade Ernest-Wallon The Stade Ernest-Wallon (; oc, Estadi Ernest-Wallon, italic=no; ) is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sept Deniers district of Toulouse, in southwestern France. Described as a "temple to the oval ball", it is the home ground for the rugb ...

. He made a total of 12 league and six European appearances in his first season, but missed the second half of the season after suffering a shoulder injury against Saracens in January 2014. Heenan returned for the start the 2014–15 season, but suffered a recurrence of his shoulder injury against

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in ...

in his first game back ruled him out for five months. He returned in February 2015, but broke down again against

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 ...

in March which ruled him out for the rest of the season. Due to these injury problems, he didn't play at all in the 2014–15 Challenge Cup, and made just five appearances in the

2014–15 Pro12 The 2014–15 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the fifth with its current four-country format. It was ...

, though he did score two tries. Heenan suffered further injury setback during the off-season and had further surgery on his shoulder. He finally made his return on New Year's Day 2016 in a

2015–16 Pro12 The 2015–16 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the fifteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the sixth with its current four-country format. it ...

game against

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

. Heenan did not feature in the 2015–16 Challenge Cup as he was not registered for the competition due to his injury troubles. Heenan went on to make 11 appearances in the Pro12 however, including playing the full 80 minutes in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

as Connacht won the competition for the first time.

Bristol Rugby

Heenan was announced by English Premiership contenders

as having signed for the 2018 season since has played 58 times with 25 points. In March 2020 renewed his contract with Bristol for the 2020/21 2021/22 season. Having reached the semi-finals of the Gallagher Premiership finals Heenan both captained and played number 8 on a number of occasions. Current Captain of the first 15 2022/23 Bristol Bears

International

Heenan has represented his country at various under-age levels. He is a former New Zealand schools player and also played for the New Zealand under-20s. Heenan captained the under-20s at the 2012 Junior World Championship, where the team lost to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in the final. Heenan became qualified to play for in June 2016 after completing three years of residency in the country. Heenan also has dual passport and thus qualifying for England and New Zealand.

References

External links

ERC ProfilePro12 Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heenan, Jake 1992 births Living people Connacht Rugby players Bristol Bears players Expatriate rugby union players in Ireland New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England People educated at Whangarei Boys' High School Unitec Institute of Technology alumni Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Whangārei