Jason Shoemark (born 5 February 1981) is a professional

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 who last played as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for the

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

in the

ITM Cup ITM may stand for: Education * ITM Global School, an English medium co-educational day school in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India * ITM Law School, one of the professional graduate schools of ITM University * ITM-IFM, Mumbai, India * Institut Tekn ...

Playing career

New Zealand

Shoemark made his provincial debut for Northland while still a teenager and quickly made a name for himself, emerging as a key player for the Taniwha. By

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, he received a

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 ...

contract with 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 ...

, making 5 appearances and scoring a try. However, his opportunities were more limited with the Blues in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, as he was limited to just a single substitute appearance. Looking to jumpstart his career, Shoemark moved south in 2004 to join

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

and the Highlanders. However, he never really hit form with Otago in two seasons with the province, and while he was included in the Highlanders squad for the

2005 Super 12 season The 2005 Super 12 season was the tenth season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 2005, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular season, ...

, he made only 5 substitute appearances. Shoemark moved back north in 2006, signing with

, but was ruled out of the

2006 Air New Zealand Cup The 2006 Air New Zealand Cup was the inaugural season of the Air New Zealand Cup, contested by teams from New Zealand. The season ran from July to October 2006. At the end of the regular season, the top team from ''Repechage A'' and ''B'' joine ...

after suffering a serious neck injury. Back healthy the following year, Shoemark finally began to realize his potential, scoring 6 tries from 12 starts for the Magpies in the

2007 Air New Zealand Cup The 2007 Air New Zealand Cup was a provincial rugby union competition involving 14 teams from New Zealand. Matches started on Thursday 26 July 2007, and the Final, in which Auckland defeated Wellington, was held on Saturday 20 October. This s ...

. After another stellar season in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

during which he scoring another 6 tries, he was called back into the Highlanders squad. Shoemark's second stint with the Highlanders proved much more fruitful than the first, as he earned a starting spot with the club and played some of the finest rugby of his career. He started all 13 matches, scored 3 tries, and earned a call-up to the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

later in the year. In

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, Shoemark wasn't able to maintain the level of form from the previous season, although he remained a reliable regular starter. He also served as a fill-in captain and also vice-captain. Now serving as team captain, Shoemark continued his strong play for Hawke's Bay in the 2010 ITM Cup, and celebrated his 50th appearance for the club with a try in a win over

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

on 25 September. Shoemark returned to Hawke's Bay for the

2014 ITM Cup Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrele ...

, making 10 appearances for the Magpies.

Exeter Chiefs

On 15 July 2010 it was announced that he would be joining newly promoted

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

of the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

at the end of the ITM Cup campaign. Shoemark made 16 appearances for the Chiefs in his first season with the club, scoring one try. After four seasons with Exeter, Shoemark returned to New Zealand following the 2013-14 campaign.

International career

In 2009 Shoemark was a late inclusion on the

European Tour, after

Tamati Ellison Tamati Edward Ellison (born 1 April 1983) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer. Career Domestic Ellison was born in Wellington, and made his debut for the Wellington Lions in the 2003 NPC final defeat against Auckland. He also captained ...

was ruled out with ligament damage. However, he remains a 'nearly' All Black as he never took the field in a game.

Family

Jason Shoemark is married to wife Vanessa and has 4 kids, Jessica, Maddie, Hunter and Jayden Pinfold

References

External links

Blues ProfileAviva Premiership Player ProfileExeter Chiefs Player Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shoemark, Jason 1981 births Living people Highlanders (rugby union) players Blues (Super Rugby) players Exeter Chiefs players Otago rugby union players Hawke's Bay rugby union players Northland rugby union players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Whangārei