Michael Allardice (born 19 October 1991) is a

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 ...

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 currently plays as a

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

for in New Zealand's domestic

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...

and the in the international

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 ...

competition.

Early career

Born in the rural town of

Taihape Taihape is in the Rangitikei District of the North Island of New Zealand. It serves a large rural community. State Highway 1, which runs North to South through the centre of the North Island, passes through the town. History and culture Early ...

in the centre of New Zealand's north island in the

Manawatū-Whanganui Manawatū-Whanganui (; spelled Manawatu-Wanganui prior to 2019) is a region in the lower half of the North Island of New Zealand, whose main population centres are the cities of Palmerston North and Whanganui. It is administered by the Manawat ...

region, he moved to the area's biggest town,

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

for school and attended

Palmerston North Boys' High School Palmerston North Boys' High School is a traditional boys school located in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Location Palmerston North Boys' High School has a campus located on Featherston Street between Rangitikei and North Streets in the central ...

where he played first XV rugby. Upon graduation, he moved south to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

to study for a Bachelor of Commerce degree, majoring in marketing and business management at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

which he completed in 3 years.

Senior career

While still studying in Christchurch, Allardice made 1 appearance for during the

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. I ...

, a 33–11 win over . In 2013 after completing his university studies he headed north to join the Hawke's Bay Magpies. He played every game for the Magpies as they reached the final of 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 ...

championship before losing narrowly to . He continued to be a first choice lock in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, playing all 12 of the Magpies' games as they again lost in the Championship final, this time to . Once more he was an ever-present in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

as Hawke's Bay finally won promotion to the Premiership with a 26–25 victory over in the final. The 2016 New Zealand domestic season was a write-off for both him and his team, as injury meant he was ruled out of the entire campaign and the Magpies' stay in the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership proved to be a brief one as they were relegated to the Championship for 2017 after recording only 2 wins all season.

Super Rugby

A pre-season training stint with the ahead of the

2014 Super Rugby season The 2014 Super Rugby season is the fourth season of the 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as Asteron Life Super Rugby ...

opened up some doors for him in the franchise and he was subsequently named in their squad for

. Although injury curtailed his debut season prematurely, he still managed to make 7 appearances which were followed up by 10 more in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

as the reached the competition's semi-final stage before going down to New Zealand rivals and eventual competition winners, the . Despite, injury problems in the latter half of 2016, he was retained in the squad for the

2017 Super Rugby season The 2017 Super Rugby season was the 22nd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It was the second season featuring an expand ...

. In August 2016, Allardice made headlines in New Zealand for alleged homophobic abuse of a gay couple during a post season team bonding at a pub and public swimming facility at Okoroire Hot Springs near Tirau in the Waikato. He later made a public apology. The incident came on the heels of a study that found more young Kiwi men hide their sexuality on the playing field than in any other country. In 2019, Allardice resigned with the Chiefs.

International

Allardice was a New Zealand Schools representative in 2009 and also turned out for New Zealand Universities during his time at the University of Canterbury.

Career Honours

Canterbury * Mitre 10 Cup Premiership -

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Hawke's Bay * Mitre 10 Cup Championship -

Super Rugby Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allardice, Michael 1991 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union locks Chiefs (rugby union) players Canterbury rugby union players Hawke's Bay rugby union players People educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School University of Canterbury alumni Toyota Verblitz players Rugby union players from Manawatū-Whanganui