Codie Joshua Dane Taylor (born 31 March 1991) is a New Zealand professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player, who currently plays as a hooker for the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

and is contracted to for New Zealand's domestic

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 (NP ...

competition. He represents

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

internationally.

Club career

Taylor played his 50th game for the Crusaders during the

2017 Super Rugby season The 2017 Super Rugby season was the 22nd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It was the second season featuring an expanded ...

and earned a start against the touring

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

on 10 June 2017. The Crusaders' fixture against the Lions was a low-scoring 12–3 loss for the Crusaders, with Taylor being subbed off in the 50th minute. Taylor's incredible performances throughout the Super Rugby season saw him start in all three of the knockout rounds of the competition, where he made a big impact. Taylor scored one of only two tries in the quarter-final, as the Crusaders beat the Highlanders 17–0 at home in Christchurch. Taylor performed well in the 2017 Super Rugby Final, on 5 August 2017, with the Crusaders beating the Johannesburg-based

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. It is se ...

25–17 to claim their eighth Super Rugby title.

International career

2011–2015

Taylor was part of the

Junior All Blacks The All Blacks XV is the second national rugby union team of New Zealand, after the All Blacks. New Zealand's second national team has had numerous names in its history: Junior All Blacks, New Zealand XV, New Zealand A, New Zealand B, All Blacks ...

team which won the

2011 IRB Junior World Championship The 2011 IRB Junior World Championship was the fourth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaced the now defunct under 19 and under 21 world championships. The event was organised by rugby' ...

. Of

Ngāti Raukawa Ngāti Raukawa is a Māori iwi (tribe) with traditional bases in the Waikato, Taupō and Manawatū/ Horowhenua regions of New Zealand. In 2006, 29,418 Māori registered their affiliation with Ngāti Raukawa. History Early history Ngāti ...

and

Muaūpoko Muaūpoko is a Māori iwi on the Kāpiti Coast of New Zealand. Muaūpoko are descended from the ancestor Tara, whose name has been given to many New Zealand landmarks, most notably Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington). His people were known as ...

descent, Taylor played 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 is ...

in 2014. Taylor was selected for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

2015 Squad, having surpassed Ben Funnell as the Crusaders' first-choice hooker during 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 ...

. His first game for the All Blacks was the opening match of the

2015 Rugby Championship The 2015 Rugby Championship was the fourth edition of the expanded annual southern hemisphere The Rugby Championship, Rugby Championship consisting of Argentina national rugby union team, Argentina, Australia national rugby union team, Australia, ...

against Argentina, when he came off the bench in the 59th minute to replace the now-retired veteran

Keven Mealamu Keven Filipo Mealamu (born 20 March 1979) is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer. He played at hooker for the Blues in Super Rugby, Auckland in the National Provincial Championship, and the New Zealand national team. He was part of t ...

. He scored a try on debut, in the 71st minute, after the All Blacks won a scrum close to the Argentine line. Taylor was named in the

31-man squad to go to the Rugby World Cup 2015 in England. Taylor only made one appearance in the competition during the pool stages, which was New Zealand and Namibia's first international fixture. Taylor lasted the whole 80 minutes against Namibia and was not replaced by Mealamu, ending the test by scoring a try in the 79th minute. First-five

Beauden Barrett Beauden John Barrett (born 27 May 1991) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a First five-eighth or Fullback for the Blues in Super Rugby and Taranaki in the Bunnings NPC. Barrett won the World Rugby Player of the Year awards ...

converted Taylor's try to make the final score 58–14.

2016–2019

Taylor surpassed the injury-plagued Nathan Harris as regular back-up to the All Blacks' starting hooker Dane Coles off the bench in 2016, following Keven Mealamu's retirement after the 2015 Rugby World Cup's conclusion. Taylor also notably earned a start against Australia in the first match of the 2016 Rugby Championship, but was unfortunately subbed off after three minutes of play for a head injury assessment and was replaced by Coles. Taylor did not return to the field that match and James Parsons was temporarily re-called to the All Blacks during Taylor's recovery from injury. Taylor had notable involvement in the 57–15 win against South Africa in Durban on 6 October 2016, scoring a try off a driving maul and also receiving a yellow card long after the full-time had passed, following a head-high tackle on Springboks fullback

Patrick Lambie Patrick Jonathan Lambie (born 17 October 1990) is a retired South African professional rugby union player who last played for in the French Top 14. He announced his retirement in January 2019 due to multiple concussions. Early life Lambie at ...

. Taylor also earned another start for the All Blacks later that year in the 68–10 victory over Italy, making his way for debutant

Liam Coltman Liam James Coltman (born 25 January 1990) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a hooker for in Frances's domestic competition Top 14. Coltman has also previously captained Otago in the NPC, and has played eight tests for the All ...

in the 66th minute. In 2017, also had a huge workload for the All Blacks. Taylor stepped up to the role of being a regular starter for the All Blacks following Dane Coles' 5 months out with a concussion. This saw Taylor starting in all three historic tests against the

, where Taylor scored the first try of the series after being set up to score, by Crusaders team-mate, winger

Israel Dagg Israel Jamahl Akuhata Dagg (born 6 June 1988) is a former New Zealand rugby union player who played for the Crusaders in Super Rugby. He has also played for the New Zealand Sevens team, and represents Hawkes Bay in the ITM Cup. Dagg played i ...

, with Taylor's try enabling the All Blacks to win the first test 30–15. The All Blacks unfortunately failed to win against the Lions, in the next two tests in the series, with the two teams drawing the series. Taylor kept the starting role at Hooker until Coles returned to international rugby on 26 August 2017, which was a 35–29 win, against Australia, that Taylor took part in off the bench. After Coles was injured again, against France on the end-of-year tour, Taylor started twice more in 2017, starting in wins against Scotland and Wales. Taylor ended the 2017 season as New Zealand's clear first-choice hooker and was the only player in the All Blacks squad that played in every single test of 2017, seven as a starter and seven as a substitute for Coles off the bench. Taylor's opening try against Scotland on 18 November 2017, a 22–17 win over Scotland, also saw him finish the year as the All Blacks' highest try scorer of the forward pack, with four tries in the 2017 season. Taylor earned the award for Man of the Match against France on 9 June 2018, after what was arguably the best individual performance in Taylor's whole career saw him score a try in the 52nd minute and also set up outside backs

Rieko Ioane Rieko Edward Ioane (; born 18 March 1997) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a Centre (rugby union), centre or Wing (rugby union), wing for the Blues (Super Rugby), Blues in Super Rugby and Auckland Rugby Union, Auckland in the Bu ...

Damian McKenzie Damian Sinclair McKenzie (born 20 April 1995) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a First five-eighth or Fullback for the All Blacks, as well as the Chiefs in Super Rugby and Waikato in the Bunnings NPC. Early life McKenzie was ...

and Ben Smith for tries, with the latter of them scoring his 30th test try off Taylor's pass. Taylor's outstanding 63-minute performance saw him earn mass acclaim from media and saw the All Blacks beat France 52–11 to open their 2018 season. Taylor backed up his performance in the first test against France by starting in the next two tests against France as well, with the All Blacks winning the series 3–0. Taylor went into the 2018 Rugby Championship in excellent form, having won another Super Rugby title with the Crusaders prior to the competition. Although the Crusaders managed to beat South Africa's

for the second year in a row in the Super Rugby Final, such an effort was not replicated internationally. Taylor was one of the few All Blacks to shine in round four of the Rugby Championship, with the All Blacks suffering a shock 34–36 loss to South Africa. Taylor exploited the slow speed of Frans Malherbe and his opposite,

Malcolm Marx Malcolm Justin Marx (born 13 July 1994) is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for the South Africa national rugby team and Kubota Spears in the Japan Rugby League One. His regular position is hooker, but he d ...

, to set up Aaron Smith's try and also scored one for himself in the 60th minute. Taylor's performance was not enough to spark a late comeback however, with

performing poorly in goal-kicking, as opposed to Man-of-the-Match Handre Pollard. Although visibly fatigued from a huge workload, Taylor was retained in the starting lineup for the second test against South Africa, which was a late 32–30 win thanks to an

Ardie Savea Ardie Suemalo Savea (born 14 October 1993) is a New Zealand professional rugby union player who plays as a Number 8 or Flanker for Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby and Wellington in the Bunnings NPC. He was named the 2023 World Rugby Player of th ...

try. Taylor's great performance saw the All Blacks win the Rugby Championship once again. With New Zealand's ranking as the best rugby team in the world on the line during the 2018 end-of-year tour, Head Coach,

Steve Hansen Sir Stephen William Hansen and High Chief of Vaiala, (born 7 May 1959) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player. He is also the father of Black Ferns assistant coach, Whitney Hansen. He was the head coach of the New Zealand na ...

, opted to keep Taylor as the first-choice hooker, despite the ageing Dane Coles coming back from a long injury-enforced break. Having started in every single test during 2018, Taylor was rested for 3 November Japan test. Taylor was then predictably named in the starting lineup for the Hillary Shield test against England, which was a narrow 16–15 win over England, an opponent that the All Blacks had not played since 2014. Having defeated England, the All Blacks played against Ireland the next week of the tour, on 17 November 2018. Ireland, ranked second in the world, went into half time ahead of the All Blacks however and Taylor was replaced by Dane Coles in the 46th minute of the test. The All Blacks went on to lose to Ireland, who are set to top the world rankings in 2019. After a long season in 2018, Taylor was named the Tom French Memorial Māori Player of the Year at the New Zealand Rugby Awards. Taylor was also nominated for the Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year trophy, awarded to the best New Zealand rugby player, but lost out on the award to Black Ferns Sevens' halfback, Kendra Cocksedge. Following the

2019 Super Rugby season The 2019 Super Rugby season was the 24th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. The 2019 season was the second season using the ...

, Taylor played in four of New Zealand's warm-up tests prior to the World Cup, including their record 26-47 defeat at the hands of Australia during the

2019 Rugby Championship The 2019 Rugby Championship was the eighth edition of the annual southern hemisphere The Rugby Championship, Rugby Championship, featuring Argentina national rugby union team, Argentina, Australia national rugby union team, Australia, South Afric ...

. All Blacks Head Coach,

named Taylor in New Zealand's 31-man squad for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup () was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening matc ...

on 28 August 2019, with the competition set to be Taylor's second World Cup. Taylor played five tests at the World Cup and went on to start in the quarter-final against Ireland. Taylor scored a try in the 46-14 win, which saw New Zealand progress to the semi-finals. The semi-final saw Taylor, as well as England number 8, Billy Vunipola, play their 50th test. Despite praise from fellow All Black Dane Coles, prior to the test, Taylor performed poorly against England, who beat New Zealand and eliminated them from the competition. New Zealand lost to England 7-19.

2020–present

On the 13th of November 2022 against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Taylor led the

Ka Mate "Ka Mate" () is a Māori people, Māori haka composed by Te Rauparaha, the historic leader of the iwi of Ngāti Toa of the North Island of New Zealand during the Musket Wars. Composition Te Rauparaha composed "Ka Mate" circa 1820 as a celebrati ...

version of the

Haka Haka (, ; singular ''haka'', in both Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English) are a variety of ceremonial dances in Māori culture. A performance art, hakas are often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the f ...

for his first time.

Personal life

Taylor is the great-great-grandson of

player Walter Pringle. Having grown up in Feilding and Levin before moving to Christchurch, he was a member of the Wider Training Squad for the

2012 Super Rugby season The 2012 Super Rugby season was the second season of 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 has previously included tea ...

and he has subsequently been promoted to the senior squad for the 2013 season, before making his international debut in 2015. Taylor was the winner of

Tom French Cup In rugby union, the Tom French Cup is an honour awarded by New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) to the Tom French Memorial Māori player of the year. The cup has been awarded annually since 1949, when it was donated to the New Zealand Māori coach To ...

in 2018. He was also a nominee for the New Zealand Rugby Player of the Year in 2018. Taylor is a New Zealander of Māori descent (

, Ngati Raukawa and Ngati Toa descent) and in 2015 he discovered that he is a direct descendant of the creators of

, the All-Blacks' famous

haka Haka (, ; singular ''haka'', in both Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English) are a variety of ceremonial dances in Māori culture. A performance art, hakas are often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the f ...

Career statistics

List of international tries

Updated: 5 November 2024 Source:''

/small>

Honours

International

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

Webb Ellis Cup The Webb Ellis Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the men's Rugby World Cup, the premier competition in men's international rugby union. The Cup is named after William Webb Ellis, who is often credited as being the inventor of rugby foot ...

** Winners:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

** Runner-up:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

**Third-place:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

* Tri Nations/

The Rugby Championship The Rugby Championship, formerly known as the Tri Nations Series (1996–2011), is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are traditionally the four highest ran ...

** Winners:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

** Runners-up:

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has varied, as has the n ...

** Winners: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 *

Dave Gallaher Trophy The Dave Gallaher Trophy is a rugby union perpetual trophy contested between and . It is named after Dave Gallaher, the 1905–06 All Black captain who was killed in Belgium during World War I. History When it comes to rugby, France and New ...

** Winners: 2016, 2017, 2018 * Freedom Cup ** Winners: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 * Hillary Shield ** Winners: 2018, 2022, 2024 *

series ** Winners:

''(drawn series – shared title)'' *

World Rugby Team of the Year The World Rugby Team of the Year is awarded by the World Rugby in the spring each year. From 2004 to 2007, the award was called the IRB International Team of the Year. In 2017 the New Zealand Black Ferns became the first women's team to win the awa ...

(New Zealand) ** Winners: 2015, 2016, 2017 * Laureus Team of the Year (New Zealand) ** Winners: 2016

Super Rugby

* Super Rugby Centurion *

Champion:

References

External links

* *
NZ Rugby History profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Codie 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Levin, New Zealand People educated at Feilding High School New Zealand rugby union players Canterbury rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players Rugby union hookers Māori All Blacks players Ngāti Toa people Ngāti Raukawa people Muaūpoko people People educated at Horowhenua College New Zealand international rugby union players Rugby union players from Manawatū-Whanganui 2015 Rugby World Cup players 2019 Rugby World Cup players 2023 Rugby World Cup players 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen