Mitchell James Hunt (born 19 June 1995) 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 it ...

player who currently plays as a

first five-eighth 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– ...

or fullback.

Early career

Born and raised in the city of Nelson in the South Island of New Zealand, Hunt attended

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private preparatory school for year 7 and 8 boys. The school also has ...

in his hometown where he enjoyed a successful time, playing 51 times for their top side. He moved north to study engineering at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

after graduating college and began playing local club rugby in the Auckland area. During his time in Auckland, he was a member of the development squad and Auckland's national sevens team.

Senior career

Hunt made the squad for the

2015 ITM Cup Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...

and scored 10 points in 7 games as his side reached the competition's final before going down to . He returned home to Nelson 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 of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

and turned out for the Tasman Mako. Playing mainly in the number 15 jersey, Hunt started all 12 games for the Mako during the season which again saw him finish on the losing side once again in the final, with Canterbury once more coming out on top. Hunt was part of the Tasman side that won the

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 ...

for the first time in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. He was picked in the North Island squad for the

North vs South rugby union match The North vs South match, sometimes known as the Interisland match was a longstanding rugby union fixture in New Zealand between the North Island and South Island teams. The first match was played on 30 June 1897 at Wellington's Athletic Park, a ...

in 2020 coming off the bench in a 35-38 loss for the North. In Round 6 of the

2020 Mitre 10 Cup The 2020 Mitre 10 Cup season was the fifteenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on September 11, when North Harbour hosted Canterbury. It involved the top ...

Hunt played his 50th game for the Mako against at Eden Park in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

. The Mako went on to win their second premiership title in a row with Hunt starting all 12 games in the number 10 jersey and scoring 97 points in the 2020 season. Hunt was named as co captain of the Tasman Mako squad for the

2021 Bunnings NPC The 2021 Bunnings NPC season was the sixteenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 6, when Manawatu (National Provincial Championship), Manawatu hos ...

alongside Quinten Strange with the absence of regular captain

David Havili David Kaetau Havili (born 23 December 1994) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a fullback, centre or first five-eighth for in the Bunnings NPC and the in the Super Rugby competition. Early career Havili is of Pāk ...

due to All Blacks duties. Tasman went on to make the final with Hunt having another outstanding season before losing 23–20 to .

Super Rugby

Just 7 appearances in his debut season of provincial rugby were all it took to convince the Christchurch based that he was worthy of a Super Rugby contract. He made their senior squad for the first time in

and made 2 substitute appearances during his debut campaign. He was retained 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 expa ...

. Hunt moved south to the in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

. Hunt had a very strong

2021 Super Rugby season The 2021 Super Rugby season was the 26th season of Super Rugby, an annual men's international rugby union tournament organised by SANZAAR, involving teams from Australia and New Zealand. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the tournament was wholly reg ...

establishing himself as the Highlanders first choice 10 as the side made the

Super Rugby Trans-Tasman Super Rugby Trans-Tasman (known as Harvey Norman Super Rugby Trans-Tasman in Australia and Sky Super Rugby Trans-Tasman in New Zealand) was a professional men's rugby union club competition in Australia and New Zealand. It featured the five S ...

final where they lost 23-15 to the .

International

Hunt was a member of the

side which won the

2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the eighth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised for the second time in Italy by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations played i ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Mitch 1995 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union fullbacks People educated at Nelson College Rugby union players from Nelson, New Zealand Auckland rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players Tasman rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players