Michael Joseph Deans Hobbs (born 18 October 1987) is a retired 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 its m ...

player. Hobbs previously played 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 ...

and Highlanders in the

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. He also played for 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 the

Air New Zealand Cup The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

. His playing positions are First Five-Eighth and Inside Centre.

Personal life

Hobbs was born 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 me ...

, New Zealand and was Head Boy at

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin *Wellington College, Wellington, New Z ...

in 2005. He is the son of former All Black Captain and NZ Rugby chairman

Jock Hobbs Michael James Bowie Hobbs (15 February 1960 – 13 March 2012), generally known as Jock Hobbs, was a New Zealand rugby union player and administrator. A Flanker (rugby union), flanker, he played for Canterbury Rugby Football Union, Canter ...

and the nephew of former All Black fullback and Australian

coach

Robbie Deans Robert Maxwell Deans (born 4 September 1959) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player, currently the head coach of Japanese club Panasonic Wild Knights. He was head coach of the Australian national team between 2008 and 2013. Deans had ...

Career

Hobbs represented both New Zealand Schools and New Zealand Under-19s before moving to Brisbane, Australia to undertake study at the University of Queensland. He debuted for 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 ...

in the 2008 season after spending the two previous years contracted to the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competition ...

Rugby Academy. He also had a stint with 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 ...

in the inaugural Australian Rugby Championship season. He went on to be drafted by the

for the 2009 Super 14 season. After starting the 2010 Super rugby season by scoring four tries in the first three games, Hobbs suffered a fractured

vertebra The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...

in his back and underwent spine surgery in Los Angeles. He studied at the University of Texas at Austin on exchange while he completed his rehab. In 2011, Hobbs re-signed with the Blues and NZRU for two more years. During the 2012 Super rugby season, Hobbs's father Jock died after a long battle with leukaemia. The 2012 ITM Cup saw Hobbs move north from Wellington to North Harbour. He played the first 3 matches before limping out of the

Counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

match early with ankle damage. Hobbs returned to the side for their final game against Tasman. At the end of the season he was granted an early release from his NZRU contract to take some time away from rugby. In March 2013, Hobbs signed a one-year deal with the

Panasonic Wild Knights Saitama Wild Knights (formerly Panasonic Wild Knights) is a Japanese rugby union team formerly based in Ōta city, Gunma prefecture which plays in the Top League. Inspired by Tony Brown at fly half (though he was not captain), it dominated the l ...

in the Japan Top League. Panasonic won both the Japan Top League and Japan Cup championships in the 2013/14 season. At the completion of his contract with Panasonic, Hobbs signed with the

NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Osaka is a Japanese rugby union team owned by NTT DoCoMo. They qualified for the 2011–12 season and finished 12th place overall. The team rebranded in 2022, ahead of the rebranding of the Top League to the Japan Rugb ...

to remain in Japan for another two seasons. After helping guide the

to their first ever win in the Japan Cup wildcard playoffs during the 2014/15 season, Hobbs was unable to take the field in the 2015/16 season due to undergoing shoulder surgery. In 2016, Hobbs announced that he was taking a break from rugby to study for an MBA at Stanford University.

References

External links

Blues Profile

Wellington Lions Player Profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobbs, Michael New Zealand rugby union players Wellington rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players 1987 births Living people North Harbour rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Saitama Wild Knights players NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Osaka players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union centres Expatriate rugby union players in Japan New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Japan New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Rugby union players from Wellington City Deans family Harper family