Jason Christopher Woodward (born 17 May 1990 in

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 metr ...

, New Zealand) 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 it ...

player who plays for Sale Sharks in the

Premiership Rugby 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 ...

Early career

Woodward played for the Upper Hutt Premier team, and was a regular in the Upper Hutt Leader. In 2010, Woodward made the New Zealand U20s and represented New Zealand at the IRB Junior World Championship in Argentina, helping the team to win the competition undefeated.

Domestic career

Wellington

Woodward played his first provincial season with the

Wellington Lions The Wellington Rugby Football Union (known as the Wellington Lions for competition reasons) are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington Region. The main stadium is Sky Stadium (formerly named West ...

in 2011. On debut he scored all of

' three tries to beat

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 D ...

23–5 in the 2011 season's opening game.

Rebels

Woodward joined the

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...

following a strong

2012 ITM Cup 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

campaign with the Wellington Lions. However an injury sustained pre-season delayed his debut until round six of the

2013 Super Rugby season The 2013 Super Rugby season was the third season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament was won by the Chiefs, who defeated the Canberra-based Brum ...

. Woodward made his debut in an unfortunate 64–7 belting from the

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

. He started at outside centre. Back in Australia for round eight in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, Woodward started on the right wing against the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. F ...

. He scored his first and second tries in Super Rugby and helped the Rebels win 30–23.

Hurricanes

June 2014, Woodward joined the Hurricanes after signing a two-year deal to return to his home franchise. The then 24-year-old returned to

at the end of the 2014 Super Rugby competition ending a two-season stint with the Melbourne Rebels. Woodward's Super Rugby season would be soon over after he broke his ankle playing club rugby in Wellington. He suffered the injury when he was caught between two defenders while playing at

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 eccentri ...

for club side Upper Hutt against Oriental Rongotai at the Polo Ground in Miramar. Woodward had been used only sparingly by the Hurricanes throughout the 2015 season with just three appearances, but had been in good form since starting the opening two matches in

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

against the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

and Bulls. With

Nehe Milner-Skudder Nehe Rihara Milner-Skudder (born 15 December 1990) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays for the Rugby New York. He was selected for the All Blacks in 2015, and was a key member of 2015 Rugby World Cup winning team. He scored ...

and James Marshall also used at fullback, Woodward's only other appearance had been against his former team the Rebels at

Westpac Stadium Wellington Regional Stadium (known commercially as Sky Stadium through naming rights) is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. The stadium's bowl site size is . The stadium was built in 1999 by Fletcher Construction and is situ ...

in round seven.

Bristol Rugby

On 12 September 2016 it was announced that Woodward had signed a two-year deal with Aviva Premiership club Bristol Rugby.

Gloucester Rugby

Following Bristol Rugby's relegation at the end of the 2016-17 Aviva Premiership season it was reported Woodward had a relegation clause in his contract, which was reported to be activated by

Gloucester Rugby Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby, as well as in the European Rugby Champions Cup. The club was formed in ...

, where Woodward would link up with some of his former Hartpury College friends.

Sale Sharks

After his release from Gloucester, Woodward signed for Premiership rivals Sale Sharks for the 2022-23 season.

International career

In May 2017 he was invited to a training camp with the senior England squad by Eddie Jones.

Personal life

Woodward's father Glen was a loose forward for Hutt Old Boys in the 1980s before arthritis cut his career short, while brothers Aidan and Jared are both making names for themselves with the Upper Hutt Rams. He spent two years in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on exchange at Hartpury College, however he left early to further his rugby career in New Zealand and therefore has no formal qualifications, unlike his sister who is a former New Zealand Fencing Champion and is University educated. He also studied to become a commercial helicopter pilot. In his spare time he enjoys driving monster trucks

References

External links

Melbourne Rebels Profile

Hurricanes Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodward, Jason 1990 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union players from Wellington City Wellington rugby union players Melbourne Rebels players Rugby union fullbacks New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Australia Expatriate rugby union players in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England Hurricanes (rugby union) players People educated at St. Patrick's College, Silverstream Bristol Bears players Gloucester Rugby players