Mike Hercus (born June 5, 1979) is a retired

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 played at

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

for the United States national team and several top level professional clubs around the globe. Hercus is the USA Eagles' all-time leading scorer with 465 points, and is the leading scorer for the U.S. in Rugby World Cups with 77 points. At the time of his final match, Hercus was the Eagles' all-time most capped back.

Early life and career

Hercus was born in Falls Church, Virginia, but his parents returned to their native Australia where he was brought up and educated at

Shore School , motto_translation = , established = , type = Independent single-sex and co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school , grades = Early learning; ...

North Sydney. He started in their first XV for two years and was captained by

Phil Waugh Phillip Waugh (born 22 September 1979) is a retired Australian rugby union footballer who played 136 matches in Super Rugby for the NSW Waratahs, and in 79 Test matches for the Wallabies. His usual position was openside flanker. Rugby career W ...

when they were in year 12. He played for the Australian schoolboys rugby union team and later progressed to the Australian under 21 side.

Personal life

Hercus is married to TV presenter Natalie Michaels.

Rugby career

2003 – 2007

The American national team, the

USA Eagles The United States men's national rugby union team represents the United States in men's international rugby union. Nicknamed the Eagles, it is controlled by USA Rugby, the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United Stat ...

, gave him a route into international rugby union. Hercus made his debut for the U.S. national team in 2002. Hercus played in the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

, scoring 51 points for the Eagles. Hercus played at Sale Sharks for two seasons as Charlie Hodgson's understudy before moving to

Llanelli Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

. There Hercus was able to secure a starting position at fly-half during the season, a position which he maintained in the 2006

Powergen Cup The RFU Knockout Cup was an English rugby union competition open to any member of the Rugby Football Union. First contested in 1971, it was the premier competition in English club rugby before the establishment of the English league structure in 1 ...

final (which saw the Scarlets lose to

London Wasps Wasps Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union team. They last played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby until being suspended on 12 October 2022. On 17 October 2022 the club entered administration, resulting in r ...

26-10). Hercus moved to the Newport Gwent Dragons in the summer of 2006 when it was announced that Welsh international fly-half Stephen Jones was to move to the Scarlets. Also in 2006, Hercus received an invitation to play for the prestigious

Barbarians FC The Barbarian Football Club, known as the Barbarians is a British-based invitational rugby union club. The Barbarians play in black and white hoops, though players wear socks from their own club strip. Membership is by invitation. As of 2011, p ...

, joining an elite list of only seven USA Eagles who have done so. His Barbarians cap came in the annual clash vs. Leicester Tigers in which he scored 17 points, including a try.

2007 – 2010

Hercus captained the Eagles in their qualifying matches against Uruguay in 2006 for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He returned to the US for the start of the 2007 U.S. Rugby Super League season, where he played for Belmont Shore and was in the US Falcons NA4 squad. Hercus started all four matches for the U.S. in the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Hercus signed a contract at the start of 2008 to play for Japanese club IBM Big Blue. In 2009, after just one season, Hercus signed with the Australian club

Sunshine Coast Stingrays The Sunshine Coast Stingrays is an Australian rugby union football team that represents Queensland's Sunshine Coast region. The Stingrays played in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition from 2005 to 2013, but now focus on competing in the Que ...

where, in limited action he was the club's leading scorer. Hercus played with the USA Eagles during the 2009 summer internationals, including the Eagles against Canada and Uruguay in the 2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying matches. These qualifying matches in 2009 were Hercus's last matches for the U.S. national team. In 2010, Hercus returned to Australia and his junior club the Gordon Highlanders to compete in the

Shute Shield The Shute Shield is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team from the Sydney premiership grand final held at the end ...

. Hercus was named Gordon's captain to start the season, but saw limited action due to injury. By mid season, rumors began to leak out that he had retired or intended to retire from both international and club rugby due to persistent reoccurring injuries. Although no official announcement has ever been made, he has been presumed retired since summer 2010.

References

* https://web.archive.org/web/20091115112801/http://www.rugbymag.com/news/national-teams/men/stats-and-milestones-for-usa-v-uruguay.aspx * http://www.usarugby.org/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20100313081855/http://www.eaglesxv.com/players/mike-hercus * https://web.archive.org/web/20091014215817/http://www.scru.com.au/content.php?id=20&category=stingrays * https://web.archive.org/web/20110724020906/http://www.barbarianfc.co.uk/player-archive/profile/3930/mike-hercus

External links

Stats from The ScarletsStats from Newport Gwent DragonsStats from Sunshine Coast Stingrays
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hercus, Mike American rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Sale Sharks players 1979 births Living people Expatriate rugby union players in Japan American emigrants to Australia Dragons RFC players People from Falls Church, Virginia People educated at Sydney Church of England Grammar School United States international rugby union players American expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Wales American expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom American expatriate sportspeople in Japan