Sam J. Nock (born 18 June 1996) 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 who currently plays as a halfback for in the

Bunnings NPC Bunnings Group Limited, trading as Bunnings Warehouse or Bunnings, is an Australian household hardware chain. The chain has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994, and has stores in Australia and New Zealand. Bunnings was founded in Perth, Wester ...

and the in the

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

Attending Saint Kentigern College in Auckland, Nock's talent was clear from an early age as he played for their top side for 3 years and captained them to national and world schools championship titles in his senior year.

Senior career

In his first year out of school, Nock returned home to play for the Northland Taniwha. He played all 10 games for them during what proved to be a torrid

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

campaign which saw them finish bottom of the Championship standings with no wins to show for their efforts. He continued to be first choice number 9 for the Taniwha 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 ...

, but injury ended his season early after he had started the first 7 games of the year.

Super Rugby

Because of Nock's promise as a school boy at Saint Kentigern College the Blues Super Rugby franchise announced in June 2015 that they'd signed him on a 3 year contract before he'd even played any national provincial championship rugby. He gained a season's experience at provincial level before joining up with the Blues ahead of the

2016 Super Rugby season The 2016 Super Rugby season was the 21st season of Super Rugby and the first season featuring an expanded 18-team format. It was also the first season that teams outside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa featured, with the Jaguares from Ar ...

. He spent the season as third choice halfback behind Bryn Hall and

Billy Guyton Bill Guyton (born 17 March 1990) is a New Zealand rugby union player. He played at halfback for provincial side Tasman. Guyton spent the previous three years playing for North Otago in the Heartland championship, making 29 appearances for the ...

. When Guyton fell ill prior to the match against the at

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

, Nock was called into the Blues 23 man squad and debuted as a second half replacement for Bryn Hall in a 19-23 loss. In the quarter final of 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 ...

Nock played his 50th game for the Blues against the .

International

Nock represented

New Zealand Schoolboys The New Zealand Schools rugby union team, commonly referred to as the New Zealand schoolboys rugby team, is composed of secondary school students in New Zealand. Many of the players have gone on to play for professional clubs or provinces or for ...

in 2014 and then was a member of the New Zealand Under 20 side which finished 5th in the

2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the ninth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in England by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations took part in the tournamen ...

which was held in England. After first playing for the Māori All Blacks in 2018 Nock was again named in the side in 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nock, Sam 1996 births Living people Blues (Super Rugby) players Māori All Blacks players New Zealand rugby union players Northland rugby union players People educated at Saint Kentigern College Rugby union players from Whangārei Rugby union scrum-halves