Sam McNicol (born 6 October 1995) is a New Zealand rugby union player who played as an outside back for Wellington and in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup and the Hurricanes and in the international

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.

Early career

Born in Feilding in New Zealand's Manawatū District, McNicol attended school further north in the town of Napier where he played first XV rugby for the local

Napier Boys' High School Napier Boys' High School is a secondary boys' school in, Napier, New Zealand. It currently has a school roll of approximately pupils. The school provides education from Year 9 to Year 13. Notable alumni Business *Rod Drury – chief executi ...

Senior career

Originally named in the Wellington Lions squad for the

2014 ITM Cup Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrele ...

, the then 19-year old McNicol didn't get any game time due to having to undergo double hip surgery and had to wait until the following year to make his provincial debut. A fractured eye-socket limited him to just 4 appearances during what was to prove to be his final season in Wellington. He moved back to Napier 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 trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

to join newly promoted Mitre 10 Cup Premiership side, the Hawke's Bay Magpies. Unfortunately, injury struck again and he was forced to miss the entire season as his new club slipped to relegation back to the Championship for 2017.

Super Rugby

Despite having no senior provincial rugby experience under his belt, McNicol was called into the wider training group during the

2015 Super Rugby season The 2015 Super Rugby season was the 20th season of Super Rugby and the fifth season featuring an expanded 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition was known as Asteron Life Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New ...

and made one appearance, against the Chiefs in

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

saw him earn his first full Super Rugby contract, this time with the Hamilton-based . He scored 2 tries in 11 appearances in his first season with the Chiefs and despite injuries holding him back once more in domestic rugby, he was retained in the squad for

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

and 2018.

Super Rugby Statistics

International

McNicol was a New Zealand Schools representative in 2013.

Post rugby playing career

In 2022 it was announced that McNicol would take up the role of rugby institute coach at

St John's College, Hastings , established = 1941; years ago , type = State Integrated, Single-sex, Day, Secondary (Year 9–13) , denomination = Catholic , principal = George Rogers , fees ...

. He was also a Hawke's Bay Rugby Union secondary schools rugby development officer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McNicol, Sam 1995 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union wings Wellington rugby union players Hurricanes (rugby union) players People educated at Napier Boys' High School Sportspeople from Feilding Chiefs (rugby union) players Hawke's Bay rugby union players Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Manawatū-Whanganui