Daniel Russell Bowden (born 1 April 1986) 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, currently playing for in the

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...

. Bowden played three seasons for the Northland Taniwha in the

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

. He debuted at the age of 18, earning player of the year in 2007. Bowden transferred from Northland to for the

2008 Air New Zealand Cup The 2008 Air New Zealand Cup was a provincial rugby union competition involving 14 teams from New Zealand. Matches started on Thursday 31 July 2008, and continued until the final on 25 October 2008. This season was the third of the expanded co ...

, where he played in eight games. His first match was on 9 August 2008 in Dunedin when he came off the bench against and kicked a penalty. Bowden went on to score 41 points in total for Otago in 2008. Bowden then signed a two-year contract with the Auckland Rugby Union. He said the decision to move north was based solely on wanting to get back to be with his family and girlfriend,

Football Ferns The New Zealand women's national football team, nicknamed the Football Ferns, is governed by New Zealand Football (NZF). The New Zealand national team qualified for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, held in China in September 2007, sending the t ...

captain

Hayley Moorwood Hayley Rose Bowden (née Moorwood; born 13 February 1984) is a women's association footballer who has represented New Zealand at international level. Club career In 2003 and 2004, Bowden played varsity soccer for Southwest Baptist University ...

. Bowden's Auckland career came to halt after only four games in the 2009 season due to a season ending ankle injury. Bowden played his first match for the Highlanders on Friday 15 February 2008 when he started against the Reds in Brisbane, he kicked one penalty. Since then he went on to play a further 10 matches for the southern Super Rugby side in 2008, starting in 8 of them. Bowden finished the season with 23 points. In 2009 Bowden returned to the Highlanders franchise. In the 2009 season he started in all of the matches, either playing first-five or second-five. Known as very good attacker with quick footwork and a great passing game, he scored more than 50 points in the 2009 season. He was later that year signed by the Crusaders for the 2010 Super 14 season. Bowden was picked up in the draft by the Crusaders in the 2010 Crusaders squad . After an injury in the preseason, Bowden missed the first 5 games of the season, then starred in his debut for the Crusaders against the Cheetahs playing at flyhalf and was named Man of the Match. He went on to form a partnership playing Second five-eighth outside All Black Dan Carter, and started in the semi-final against the Bulls in Soweto. Bowden signed for

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

on a two-year contract, and joined up with Irish at the end of the current Super 14 Season. Bowden had a superb first year in the Aviva Premiership. Initially playing inside centre before moving to flyhalf, Bowden showed excellent touches on attack and was competent on defence. He displayed consistency and was selected to start 31 of 32 games in the 2010/2011 season. His performances for the club earned him Players' Player of the Year. He joined Premiership club Leicester Tigers for the 2012/13 season. Dan Bowden had an injury interrupted first season at Leicester, but when did play showed flashes of brilliance. He played in 15 games, and won the Premiership Rugby's Try of the Year award. He so far has performed well at inside centre in his second season. In May 2014, he signed with the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

to return to New Zealand for 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 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 ...

s. Bowden returned to England to join

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

back in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

on a lucrative two and a half-year contract from January 2016. Dan is now the Talent Identification and Recruitment Manager for Auckland Rugby. He is also an assistant coach in the Mitre 10 cup, helping guide Auckland to runners up in the 2020 Premiership.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowden, Daniel Auckland rugby union players Otago rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players Crusaders (rugby union) players Blues (Super Rugby) players Northland rugby union players Shizuoka Blue Revs players London Irish players Leicester Tigers players Bath Rugby players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union centres New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate rugby union players in England Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Living people 1986 births Rugby union players from Auckland