Josh Blackie (born 3 August 1979) is a former New Zealand

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 notably played for

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 ...

in the

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 ...

and the Highlanders in

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 ...

. He also had a long stint for the

Kobelco Steelers The Kobelco Kobe Steelers are a Japanese rugby union team owned by Kobe Steel, and based in Kobe. They were the first ever Top League champions when the League started in the 2003-2004 season. The team rebranded as Kobelco Kobe Steelers ahead of ...

in Japan and played a season 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 ...

in 2008. His position of choice was flanker. He has played over a dozen tournaments as part of the New Zealand Rugby Sevens team. He won a gold medal at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. On 23 April 2007, it was announced that Blackie would leave the

Otago Rugby Football Union The Otago Rugby Football Union is the official governing body of rugby union for the Otago region of New Zealand. The union is based in the city of Dunedin, and its home ground is Forsyth Barr Stadium. The top representative team competes in t ...

and the Highlanders to take up a contract to play rugby in Japan for the

. On 10 October 2008, it was stated that Blackie signed a 2-year deal with the Auckland Rugby Union, making him eligible for the

and the All Blacks. Blackie cited the reason for moving to Auckland instead of Otago was he was born and raised in Auckland. In 2013 Blackie established a scholarship of academic and sports fees for a year 10 student at his old school

Liston College Liston College is a school in Henderson, Auckland, New Zealand, for year seven to 13 boys and offers a Catholic education to its students. It was the second school opened by the Christian Brothers in Auckland. It was named after Archbishop List ...

.Liston College Newsletter 117, 19 March 2013
(Retrieved 2 April 2013) More recently, Josh has become a founding member of the Te Reo Lightning Riders of Mount Eden, affectionately referred to as the ‘TRLR’ in semi-professional cycling circles. His involvement with the TRLR has helped hone Josh’s physical prowess on road bikes, maintained his penchant for ‘mothers milk’ Rheineck 3.5% lagers, whilst (albeit only occasionally) avoiding known cycling penalties such as the dreaded ‘teddy bear’. Frequently professing his adoration for his fellow TRL riders (and roder), Josh has allegedly claimed, more than once, that “they are easily the best group of guys I have ever sweated in overly tight-fitting lycra with”. A keen proponent of cycling ‘rules’, Josh is all about getting outside and into the elements – although, during Auckland’s rare heavy rains, he has been known to retreat indoors to engage in shirtless Zwift pack rides that enable him to, in his words, listen to “banging tunes from Tay Tay, Britney, Miley, and Garth Brooks”. itations pending Not content with being confined to a single sport, Josh still competes regularly in multi-sport events, including the Coast-to-Coast – although remains petrified of ‘incinerate’ gym classes. Whatever Josh is doing, however, he is keenly aware that if it doesn’t happen on Strava it doesn’t happen - and he can be tracked under the moniker "hairless_adonis_79". itations pending

References

External links

Highlanders profile
Retrieved 13 March 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Blackie, Josh Highlanders (rugby union) players Blues (Super Rugby) players 1979 births Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Kobelco Kobe Steelers players Living people New Zealand rugby union players Otago rugby union players People educated at Liston College Rugby union players from Auckland Rugby sevens players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games New Zealand male rugby sevens players Rugby union flankers New Zealand expatriate rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Japan New Zealand international rugby sevens players Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players of New Zealand Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens