Rhys Joseph Jennings Marshall (born 12 October 1992) is a New Zealand

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. He plays as a hooker for

Waikato Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...

in the

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

and in

Super Rugby Pacific 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 ...

Career in New Zealand

Marshall has international experience with the New Zealand under 20 side, having represented the Junior All Blacks at the

2012 IRB Junior World Championship The 2012 IRB Junior World Championship was the fifth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. This competition replaced the now defunct Under 19 and Under 21 world championships. The event was organised in South A ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Following on from the Junior World Cup, he played for Hawke's Bay's Colts team. In October 2012, it was announced that Marshall was the surprise name in the squad for the

2013 Super Rugby season The 2013 Super Rugby season was the third season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament was won by the Chiefs, who defeated the Canberra-based Brumb ...

as he was still awaiting his

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 ...

debut. He also went on to sign with

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

for 2013. He started his first

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 ...

game for the Chiefs 41–27 win over the Highlanders. At 20 years of age, Marshall had yet to play

rugby, got the callup to start after former

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

Hika Elliot failed a fitness test, and with

Mahonri Schwalger Mahonri Schwalger (born 15 September 1978) is a former Samoan professional rugby union footballer who last played in New Zealand for the Chiefs in the Super Rugby competition and for Counties Manukau in the National Provincial Championship. He ...

also injured, Marshall got the job. In 2013, he signed a contract extension with the Chiefs until 2015. Marshall returned to New Zealand after 5 years in Ireland, and joined North Harbour ahead of the 2021 National Provincial Championship. He was selected in the squad for the

2022 Super Rugby Pacific season The 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season (known as Harvey Norman Super Rugby Pacific in Australia and DHL Super Rugby Pacific in New Zealand) is the 27th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams fr ...

Move to Ireland

On 4 October 2016, it was announced that Marshall would be joining Irish

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

side

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

on a three-year contract, which began following the completion of his

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 ...

commitments with

. On 4 November 2016, Marshall made his debut for Munster when he came on as a replacement during the

2016–17 Pro12 The 2016–17 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the sixteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the seventh with a four-country format. It was the ...

fixture against

Ospreys The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

. On 26 November 2016, Marshall made his first start for Munster during the 46–3 win against Benetton at

Thomond Park Thomond Park is a stadium in Limerick in the Irish province of Munster. The stadium is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union and has Munster Rugby, Shannon RFC and UL Bohemian RFC as tenants. Limerick FC played home games in Thomond Park fr ...

. Marshall earned the

Man-of-the-Match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

award in Munster's 36–10 win against

in a

2017–18 Pro14 The 2017–18 PRO14 (also known as the ''Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the seventeenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Pro14, Celtic League. It is the first season to be referred to as th ...

fixture on 2 December 2017. He won his 50th cap for Munster on 19 May 2018, doing so when he started against

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

in the provinces 16–15 Pro14 semi-final defeat. Marshall scored two tries in Munster's 49–13 win against

on 14 September 2018 in round 3 of the

2018–19 Pro14 The 2018–19 Pro14 (also known as the '' Guinness Pro14'' for sponsorship reasons) is the eighteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the second season to be referred to as the ''Pr ...

. He signed a two-year contract extension with Munster in December 2018. Marshall was released by Munster at the end of the 2020–21 season and returned to New Zealand.

References

External links

Munster ProfilePro14 Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Rhys 1992 births Living people People educated at New Plymouth Boys' High School Rugby union players from New Plymouth New Zealand rugby union players Taranaki rugby union players Chiefs (rugby union) players Munster Rugby players North Harbour rugby union players Waikato rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Rugby union hookers