Tom Bayley Sanders (born 5 February 1994) is a

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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 loose forward for in New Zealand's domestic

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and the Crusaders 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. He also plays as a Number 8 position.

Early career

Born in

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and raised in the small town of

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, Sanders attended Lincoln High School in the city of his birth, where he played first XV rugby for 3 years and was a member of the New Zealand Schools academy during that time. He initially played his rugby as a midfielder, but later in his teens switched to loose forward. After graduating high school, he began studying for a Bachelor of Commerce in Agricultural Management at Lincoln University while also representing them in the local Canterbury club leagues.

Senior career

Sanders started out his senior career with Canterbury during the

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, making his debut against in Week 1 of the competition. He had to settle for a place on the replacements bench most weeks but did come on to good effect and scored 3 tries in 8 appearances during the season. He played 10 times in

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, rotating the starting duties with Reed Prinsep as Canterbury lifted the Premiership title with a 25–23 victory over in the final. Injury held him back in the early part of

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, but he bounced back to start 7 times and score 1 try to help Canterbury to their 8th national provincial championship title in 9 seasons.

Super Rugby

His displays in his first year of provincial rugby didn't go unnoticed and he was named as a member of the wider training group for 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 ...

. It was largely a season of learning for Sanders, as the presence of

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, ...

stalwarts such as

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

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 ...

in the Crusaders back row meant that he didn't see any game time. His continued good work in New Zealand's domestic rugby competitions saw him named in the squad in

. He scored 3 tries in 13 appearances during his first year in

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as his new side reached the tournament's semi-finals before going down to New Zealand rivals, and eventual champions the in

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. He was retained in the squad for

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International career

Sanders was a surprise inclusion in the New Zealand Under-20 side which competed in the

2014 IRB Junior World Championship The 2014 IRB Junior World Championship was the seventh annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in Auckland, New Zealand by rugby's governing body, World Rugby, then known as the Internation ...

in his home country. Despite this, he was one of the standout loose forwards in the competition and scored 1 try in 4 appearances as his side finished in 3rd place. During his time at Lincoln University, he also represented the New Zealand Universities team.

Career Honours

Canterbury * Mitre 10 Cup Premiership -

Super Rugby Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Tom 1994 births New Zealand rugby union players Canterbury rugby union players Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Living people Chiefs (rugby union) players People educated at Lincoln High School, New Zealand Lincoln University (New Zealand) alumni Rugby union players from Christchurch Crusaders (rugby union) players Tokyo Sungoliath players Otago rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players