Jason Edward Spice (born 7 December 1974) is a New Zealand international

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 and first-class cricketer. His position of choice is as a scrum-half. Spice was born in

Matamata Matamata () is a town in Waikato, New Zealand. It is located near the base of the Kaimai Ranges, and is a thriving farming area known for Thoroughbred horse breeding and training pursuits. It is part of the Matamata-Piako District, which takes ...

, NZ. He is a former

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 ...

age-group

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played for

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

in the

Hawke Cup The Hawke Cup is a non-first-class cricket competition for New Zealand's district associations. Apart from 1910–11, 1912–13 and 2000–01 the competition has always been on a challenge basis. To win the Hawke Cup, the challengers must beat t ...

, then the

Northern Districts Knights The Northern Districts men's cricket team are one of six New Zealand first-class cricket teams that make up New Zealand Cricket. They are based in the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand (excluding Auckland). They compete in the ...

at first-class level, mainly as a left-arm spinner and lower-order batsman, before his position in the team was taken by

Daniel Vettori Daniel Luca Vettori (born 27 January 1979) is a New Zealand cricket coach and former cricketer who played for the New Zealand national cricket team. He was the 200th player to win their Test cricket cap for New Zealand. Vettori was the young ...

. Spice then turned his attention to rugby, which he had also starred at in secondary school. He made the Waikato NPC team and played six games for 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 ...

in 1998 before transferring to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, where he played 61 games for the province and 66 for the Hurricanes Super Rugby franchise. Spice was a New Zealand A tourist to Europe in 2000. He was called up as a substitute for 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 ...

against Argentina in 2001 and was again on standby for the 2002 end of season tour. After leaving the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

in 2004, he played three seasons and 77 games for the Ospreys in Wales, 48 games for

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 ...

and a staggering 31 games in one season with Bristol. Spice joined

Bristol RFC Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

from 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 ...

in May 2009. He was considered a good signing for

Bristol Rugby Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

because as well as playing his regular position of scrum half he could also cover at fly half, which became evident as the Ospreys struggled with injuries and international call-ups for that position. In June 2010, Spice bought out the remainder of his contract with

after it was announced that Bristol was asking their players to take a 50% pay cut following their failure to regain promotion to 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 ...

. He then picked up short-term contracts with

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, Launceston and Newcastle before returning home to New Zealand.

References

External links

Jamie Troughton articleOspreys profileCardiff Blues profileBristol Rugby profile
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Jason Edward Spice
at New Zealand Rugby History {{DEFAULTSORT:Spice, Jason 1974 births Living people New Zealand cricketers Northern Districts cricketers New Zealand rugby union players Ospreys (rugby union) players Cardiff Rugby players People from Matamata Bristol Bears players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Wales Waikato rugby union players Wellington rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Hurricanes (rugby union) players Rugby union scrum-halves Cricketers from Waikato Rugby union players from Waikato New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Wales Expatriate rugby union players in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England Leicester Tigers players