Nick Macleod (born 23 March 1983 in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

) is a former 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 who played for

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms ...

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

and

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in ...

. Primarily a fly-half, Macleod also played at Fullback.

Professional career

Macleod came through the

system, playing for the U21 side, and made his debut for

Cardiff RFC Cardiff Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Caerdydd) is a rugby union club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876Parry-Jones (1989), pg 59 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, shortly after ...

in November 2001 against Cambridge University. Macleod played for Wales U19 in 2002, and Wales U21 in 2004. Macleod made his debut for Cardiff Blues on 5 September 2003, against

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, scoring a try. Macleod was selected for

for the

2006 Wales rugby union tour of Argentina The 2006 Wales rugby union tour of Argentina was a series of matches played in June 2006 in Argentina by the Wales national rugby union team. Wales was managed by new coach Gareth Jenkins, nominated a month before to replace Mike Ruddock. Res ...

, in place of the injured

Hal Luscombe Haldane 'Hal' Naude Luscombe is a former Wales international rugby union player. His usual position was on the wing or in the centres. The last team he played for was Worcester Warriors in the top level of English rugby, the Guinness Premiershi ...

. Macleod did not gain a cap during the tour, and ultimately never achieved a Wales cap. In April 2008, it was announced that Macleod would leave Cardiff to sign for the

on a two year deal. Macleod departed Cardiff with 82 appearances and scored 240 points. Macleod began the 2010–11 season as Sale's fly-half in the absence of the team's first choice,

Charlie Hodgson Charles Christopher Hodgson (born 12 November 1980) is a retired English rugby union player, having previously been a player for Sale Sharks and Saracens. His position was fly-half and he is the leading Premiership points scorer of all time. ...

; when Hodgson returned in late September he took over the position. In a

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

match for Sale against Cetransa El Salvador on 8 October 2010, Macleod equalled the club's record for most points scored in a game by a single player. When fly-half

, who previously held the record, was rested at half-time Macleod took over goal kicking. With two tries and eight successful conversions, Macleod scored 26 points in the match. The following month, Macleod experienced what he described a "highlight of iscareer so far" when he stepped up to captain Sale in a 24–19 defeat to

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

. Regular captain Neil Briggs was unavailable due to injury and Macleod filled the position. Hodgson suffered a broken foot in December, ruling him out for several months. In his absence, Macleod took the role of Sale's regular fly-half. Macleod's elevation to the captaincy was temporary and winger

Mark Cueto Mark John Cueto (born 26 December 1979 in Workington, Cumbria) is a former English international rugby union player. He played on the wing for Sale Sharks and England. He is currently the third leading try scorer in the Aviva Premiership. O ...

was appointed captain in late December 2010 by new coach

Pete Anglesea Anthony Peter Anglesea (born 30 October 1971 in Blackrod, Lancashire, England) was a rugby union rugby player, who played back row for the Sale Sharks. Highly regarded by Sale when forced to retire through injury in 2006, he first took a role wit ...

, who replaced

Mike Brewer Mike Brewer (born 28 August 1964) is an English car trader turned presenter of Driving, motoring television programmes. He currently presents ''Wheeler Dealers'' on the Discovery Channel (UK and Ireland), Discovery Channel with Marc "Elvis" Pri ...

as Sale had won just three out of nine matches in the 2010–11 season. Hodgson left at the end of the 2010–11 season and the club chose not to sign a new fly-half. This meant that Macleod would be given a regular chance in the position. He had a successful run, scoring 231 points by mid-February when he signed a two-year extension on his contract. Macleod signed a further extension in November 2013. MacLeod joined

for the 2016–17 season and made six appearances before suffering a ligament injury which eventually forced him to retire from professional rugby; he now works as a baker in Cardiff.

References

External links

Cardiff Blues profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macleod, Nick 1983 births Living people Cardiff Rugby players Rugby union players from Cardiff Sale Sharks players Welsh rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves