Jared Benjamin Payne (born 13 October 1985) is a retired

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 ...

centre who played for

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 ...

and the

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

national team. He was a member of the 2017 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, but did not play a test match. Since his retirement from playing in 2018, he has been Ulster's defence coach, a position he is to leave at the end of the 2021-22 season. Payne was born in

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

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 ...

, and represented New Zealand at U21 and 7s level, as well as captaining his provincial side Northland. He began his Super Rugby career with the Chiefs in 2007 before moving to the Crusaders in 2009. He made 22 appearances for the Crusaders over two seasons. He moved to the Blues for the 2011 Super Rugby campaign and was one of the standout players in the competition as he played centre and fullback with flair. Payne played most of his New Zealand rugby at centre and fullback, but also covered the wing.

Early life

Payne was born in

on 13 October 1985. He was educated at

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private preparatory school for year 7 and 8 boys. The school also has ...

in 1999, and then

Hamilton Boys' High School Hamilton Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hamilton, New Zealand and is the largest secondary school in the Waikato region. The school was established as Hamilton High School in 1911 but was later split into separate boys' and gi ...

Professional career

New Zealand

Between 2006 and 2007 Payne played for

Waikato Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...

, and from 2008 until 2011 played for Northland, whom he captained from 2009 til 2011. Payne debuted with the

Waikato Chiefs The Chiefs (formerly known as the Waikato Chiefs and officially called the Gallagher Chiefs for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Hamilton, Waikato. The team competes in the Super Rugby competition ...

in 2007, however his game time was limited and he was not re-signed for the 2008 season. In 2009, Payne was signed by the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

, for whom he made 22 appearances in the 2009 and 2010 seasons. In 2010 it was announced 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 ...

had signed him for the 2011 Super Rugby season.

Ulster Rugby

In 2011, Payne signed with

, making his Ulster debut on 16 September against 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 ...

, where he made a solid start for his new team. Payne injured his Achilles tendon in a match against Treviso in October 2011 keeping him out for the rest of the season. He returned for the start of the 2012/13 season and his flair and dynamic play made him one of Ulster's key playmakers in their run to the Heineken Cup Quarter-Finals and Pro12 Finals. He signed a new contract with Ulster in May 2013, keeping him at Ravenhill until 2016. He signed a new contract with Ulster in May 2016, keeping him at Ravenhill until 2018. Payne was forced to retire in May 2018 due to head injury sustained during the 2017 Lions tour, though Ulster announced him as their new defence coach.

International career

Representative rugby

Payne played for the New Zealand Under-21s and Schools sevens teams. Payne played his first test for Ireland against South Africa on 8 November 2014.

British & Irish Lions

Payne was selected as part of the 2017 British & Irish Lions squad to take part in their tour of New Zealand. He started in three of the matches on tour, including fixtures against his former teams the Blues and Chiefs. Payne scored a try in the second half against the Chiefs but was subbed off with a concussion in the 76th minute. Payne withdrew from the squad due to injury and has not played any rugby since the Lions tour.

References