Scott James McLeod (born 28 February 1973) 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 its m ...

coach and former second-five eighth and centre. McLeod played 10 tests for the

All Blacks 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 ...

from 1996 to 1998, and played domestic rugby 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 ...

Waikato Chiefs The Chiefs (formerly known as the Waikato Chiefs and officially called the Gallagher Chiefs for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Hamilton, Waikato. The team competes in the Super Rugby competition ...

, and

Toshiba Brave Lupus Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo is a Japanese rugby union team in the Top League. They are based in Fuchu, Tokyo, as is their local rival Suntory Sungoliath. They won the second ever Top League championship in the 2004-5 season and the Microsoft Cup ...

. McLeod is currently the assistant coach of the All Blacks. He replaced Wayne Smith as defence coach for the All Blacks after their third Bledisloe test against Australia on 22nd of October 2017.

Provincial career and Super 12

McLeod was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He first came to prominence playing amateur club rugby in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

and in John Boe's Waikato Colts teams. He made his NPC debut for

in 1995 and was named as a standby for the All Blacks 1995 end of year tour of Italy and France. In 1996, McLeod made his

Super 12 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 ...

debut for the Waikato Chiefs. He went on to play 69 matches for Waikato and 44 matches for the Chiefs; towards the end of his playing career in New Zealand he was in competition with

Mark Ranby Richard Mark Ranby (born 1 June 1977) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A midfield back, Ranby represented Manawatu, the Central Vikings and Waikato at a provincial level, and the Hurricanes and the Chiefs in Super Rugby. He played ...

and

Keith Lowen Keith Ross Lowen (born 14 July 1974) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A second five-eighth, Lowen represented Waikato at a provincial level for most of his career, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, in ...

for starting positions in both sides. He won the

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challeng ...

twice with Waikato, against Taranaki in 1996 and Auckland in 1997. At the end of the 2001 season, McLeod departed New Zealand to take up a professional contract in Japan with

. He played for Toshiba from 2002 until his retirement in 2009.

All Blacks career

McLeod played his first tests for the All Blacks in 1996, starting at

second five-eighth Second five-eighths, or sometimes second five-eighth, is a name used in New Zealand to refer the rugby union position commonly known elsewhere as the inside centre or number 12. It traditionally described a playmaking type of 12 with good passin ...

in place of the injured Walter Little against

Manu Samoa The Samoa national rugby union team (also known as Manu Samoa) represents Samoa in men's international rugby union and it is governed by the Samoa Rugby Union. They are also known as Manu Samoa, which is thought to derive from the name of a Samo ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. McLeod lost his test place to Little but went on to play as a midweek and substitute player in 17 All Black matches between 1996 and 1998, including 10 tests and three test starts. McLeod lost his place in the test squad due to injuries, loss of form and increasing competition from players like Mark Mayerhofler,

Alama Ieremia Namulauulu Alama Ieremia (born 27 October 1970) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former international player for Western Samoa and New Zealand. Early life Ieremia was born in Sinamoga, a suburb of Apia, Samoa. He was educated in Samoa at ...

and

Eroni Clarke Eroni Clarke (born 31 March 1969) is a former New Zealand rugby union player who played for Auckland, the Blues, the Highlanders and the All Blacks at international level. Clarke made 155 appearances for Auckland, making him the fifth (equal w ...

. He remained on the periphery of All Blacks selections up until 2000, with six appearances for New Zealand A.

Coaching career

McLeod returned to New Zealand from Japan in 2008 to work as skills coach for the Waikato rugby team. He returned to Hamilton permanently in 2009 after finishing his final season with Toshiba. In 2009, McLeod was appointed assistant coach to

Chris Gibbes Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name *Chris Abani (born 1966), Nige ...

for the Waikato

Air New Zealand Cup The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

(now ITM Cup) team. McLeod has worked as skills coach for the

. He is currently the assistant coach of the All Blacks.

Personal life

McLeod is married to Dana and the couple have four children. In 2008, the destruction of his house by an

arsonist Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wate ...

received national coverage in New Zealand.

References

External links

*
Waikato Rugby Union profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcleod, Scott 1973 births Living people New Zealand rugby union coaches New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union centres New Zealand international rugby union players Chiefs (rugby union) players Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo players People educated at Hamilton Boys' High School