Norman Mark Taylor (born 11 January 1951) 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. A

second five-eighth Second five-eighths, or sometimes second five-eighth, is a name used in New Zealand to refer the rugby union position commonly known elsewhere as the inside centre or number 12. It traditionally described a playmaking type of 12 with good passin ...

and

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

, Taylor represented

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

and

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 ...

at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, 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 ...

, between 1976 and 1982. His career in New Zealand was relatively short, playing 72 first-class domestic matches and 27 matches for New Zealand, including nine internationals. Taylor also played in England for

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

in the late 1970s and early 1980s, captaining the club in the 1980–81, 1981-82 and 1982–83 seasons, although he was ruled out of the final season by injury. In his first season as captain the Rothmans Rugby Yearbook stated that his "outspoken captaincy paid dividends for Wasps, who had their best season for twenty years". Taylor also played for the

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

county team and helped them reach the semi-final of the 1981-82 County Championship.

References

1951 births Living people People from Auckland New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Bay of Plenty rugby union players Hawke's Bay rugby union players Wasps RFC players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate rugby union players in England Rugby union centres Rugby union wings People educated at Dargaville High School Middlesex County RFU players {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1950s-stub