Shane Christie (born 23 September 1985) 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.

Early career

Born in the city of

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

on New Zealand's North Island, Christie was raised in the town of Nelson, on the northern tip of South Island before moving to Wellington during his schooldays and attending school at

Upper Hutt College Upper Hutt College is a state school, state Mixed-sex education, co-educational secondary school located in Trentham, New Zealand, Trentham in the city of Upper Hutt, New Zealand. The school opened in 1962 as the city's second state secondary sc ...

just outside of

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. He headed back to Nelson after school and began working as a builder, a job he would have for 6 years prior to his rugby career really taking off in 2010. During this time, he played rugby for Nelson in Tasman's club rugby competition and also played

Heartland Championship The Heartland Championship competition, known for sponsorship reasons as the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship, is a domestic rugby union competition in New Zealand. It was founded in 2006 as one of two successor competitions to the countr ...

rugby with Buller in 2009.

Senior career

Christie first played senior provincial rugby with the Tasman Mako during the 2010 ITM Cup and scored 2 tries in 5 games as the men from

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

finished 12th out of 14 teams on the log in the final season before the competition was rejigged to feature two divisions of 7 teams. He played all 10 games the following year as the Mako finished last in the Championship.

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

was a more positive year for Tasman and it saw them finish 3rd in the Championship before going down 41–34 to in the playoff semi-finals. Christie was again an ever-present, starting in 10 of 11 appearances and scoring 1 try. Following a promising season in 2012, the Makos gained promotion to the Premiership in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, finishing with 8 wins out of 10 regular season games before defeating and in the semi-finals and final with Christie captaining the side and contributing 3 tries in 11 matches. Tasman's upward trajectory continued through

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

as they reached the Premiership final at the first time of asking before being defeated 36-32 by in the final. Christie played 10 times and scored 1 try which saw him nominated for the ITM Cup Player of the Season award before going on to score 5 tries in 21 games across the

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 ...

and 2016 seasons as the Makos finished as losing semi-finalists and runners-up respectively.

Super Rugby

After several seasons of hard graft in New Zealand domestic rugby with Tasman, Christie finally earned a Super Rugby contract at the age of 28 with 7 times champions, the ahead of 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 ...

. Unfortunately, due to fierce competition among a loose forward group that included

Richie McCaw Richard Hugh McCaw (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugby ...

Kieran Read Kieran James Read (born 26 October 1985) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He played as a number 8 and is a former captain of the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks. Read played for New Zealand from 2008 to 2019. He is one of ...

and

Matt Todd Matthew Brendon Todd (born 24 March 1988) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer, who plays as an Openside Flanker for the Toshiba Brave Lupus in the Japanese Top League competition. Todd played 25 tests for New Zealand internationally, from ...

, he was only able to make a solitary appearance in what was to be his only season in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

. He headed south to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

to join the for

and quickly established himself as a key component in their side, starting 14 times and scoring 2 tries as they reached the tournament quarter-finals before going down 31–27 to the in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

was to be a historic season for the franchise as they lifted the Super Rugby title for the first time in their history, defeating the 21–14 in the final. Christie missed a large chunk of the campaign because of a hamstring injury and had to kick his heels on the sidelines as his teammates achieved their success, playing only twice. The Highlanders were unable to hold on to their Super Rugby crown 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 ...

, going down to the 42–30 in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

in the quarter-finals, however a fit again Christie was named as the franchise's co-captain along with

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, ...

Ben Smith and was able to feature 11 times through the year. Tony Brown replaced the bound

Jamie Joseph James Whitinui Joseph (born 21 November 1969) is a New Zealand-born Japanese former rugby union player and current rugby union coach. A flanker, Joseph represented Otago at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, ...

as Highlanders head-coach ahead of the 2017 season and he retained Christie in the squad for his first season in charge.

International

Christie represented the

All Blacks Sevens The New Zealand national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. They have won a record twelve World Rugby Sevens Series titles. The team has been of ...

twice during the 2010–11 IRB Sevens World Series and has also turned out for the

Māori All Blacks The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing i ...

since 2012. He received his first call up for the Māori ahead of their UK tour in November 2012 and debuted in a 32–24 defeat to

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

on 13 November 2012. He started the match and played the entire 80 minutes before earning a second cap 4 days later as a second-half replacement for Nick Crosswell in a 52-21 demolition of an RFU Championship XV while on 23 November he saw his first action against test match opposition in the shape of who were overcome 32–19 in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, England. He once again played the whole match in the blindside flanker position. 2013 saw him earn 2 more caps for the Māori in their North American tour victories over Canada and the , appearing as a second-half replacement for

Luke Braid Luke Gary Braid (born 5 October 1988) is a rugby union footballer who plays for the Blues in Super Rugby and Auckland in the ITM Cup. He plays as a loose forward. Braid has also played for three national rugby union teams, the New Zealand Sch ...

in the match against Canada in Toronto and playing the entire 80 minutes in the number 6 shirt against the US in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Christie was again called up by the Māori ahead of their 2014 tour of but had to withdraw due to injury, so it was after a gap of 3 years before he next pulled on the Black jersey, playing in matches against the US,

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 ...

and Harlequins and scoring his first international try in the 22nd minute of the 26–10 win over Harlequins at

Twickenham Stoop Twickenham Stoop Stadium (informally referred to as The Stoop) is a sports stadium located in south-west London, England. The stadium is home to Harlequins rugby union team, who play in the Gallagher Premiership. The stadium has a capacity ...

Career honours

All Blacks Sevens *

IRB Sevens World Series The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the com ...

2010–11 Highlanders *

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 ...

–

Tasman * ITM Cup Championship –

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christie, Shane Living people 1985 births New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union flankers Māori All Blacks players Buller rugby union players Tasman rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players Rugby union players from Palmerston North Highlanders (rugby union) players New Zealand international rugby sevens players People educated at Upper Hutt College Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi people