Justin Horo (born 7 September 1986) is a New Zealand professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer who last played as a er and for

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the ...

in the Super League. He previously played for the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

and the

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

Background

Born in

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, he is of Maori descent. His father,

Mark Horo Mark Gregory Horo (born 27 March 1963) is a New Zealand rugby league coach and former footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A New Zealand international representative, he played club football in New Zealand for Te Atatu and in Australia ...

is New Zealand Maori and his mother is of Laos descent. His uncle is

Shane Horo Shane Horo is a New Zealand rugby league player who represented New Zealand in the 1988 World Cup. His brother, Mark, was also a New Zealand international and his nephew, Justin, currently plays in the NRL. Playing career Horo originally playe ...

Playing career

Horo played his junior football for the St Clair Comets and Cambridge Park, playing SG Ball & Jersey Flegg at the Roosters before signing with the

. In Round 3 of the

2010 NRL season The 2010 NRL season was the 103rd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the thirteenth run by the National Rugby League. The season commenced on 12 March and ended with the Grand Final, played on 3 Octobe ...

he made his

debut for the

against the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture ...

. Later that year he re-signed with the Parramatta Eels on a 3-year contract, knocking back offers from the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

, the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

and the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilit ...

. After making his debut, Horo played in all the remaining games of the 2010 season and received the 2010 Parramatta Eels season's rookie of the year award. Horo played throughout the 2011 season but in

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 gat ...

he was dropped from the Parramatta team after a first round loss, and featured in just 6 games for the year. Horo said, " Steve (Kearney) said I had a few things to work on and I ended up getting a few injuries after that. I tore ligaments in my ankle and then I had a rotator-cuff injury in my shoulder. Once I got back to full fitness I ended up stringing a few games together at the end but that was after Mooks had gone." After being told he was not in the Eels future plans early in the 2012 season, Horo considered playing park football in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

with a friend before ending up signing a 2-year contract with the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

on 12 November from the 2013 season, after being released from the final year of his Eels contract. In the 2013 season, he scored 8 tries from 18 games (to Round 20 including 2 byes), playing in the back row with representative forwards Anthony Watmough and

Glenn Stewart Glenn Stewart (born 11 January 1984) is a former Australian professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Leigh Centurions in the Super League. An Australia international and New South Wales State of Origin representative , ...

. On 6 August 2015, Horo signed a 2-year contract to play in the Super League for French club the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from outs ...

starting in 2016. In September 2017 he signed a two-year deal with

Representative career

In 2010, Horo played for the New Zealand Māori team against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Personal life

Horo is from the

Tainui Tainui is a tribal waka confederation of New Zealand Māori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central North Island of New Zealand: Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa and Waikato. There are ...

iwi. His father is former

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 ...

international

and he has stated his allegiance to the Kiwis. His uncle,

, also represented New Zealand. Horo recently competed in a high profile match race against multi-sport athlete Jordan Simi. Horo won the race but rumours that Horo had Jordan Simis part of the track watered pre-race to gain an advantage. Horo avoided conviction for a cocaine charge, after being caught by police with possession and a rolled up note, in a Sydney pub in early 2021

References

External links

Wakefield Trinity profileCatalans Dragons profileSL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horo, Justin 1986 births Living people Catalans Dragons players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league second-rows Rugby league locks Rugby league hookers Wentworthville Magpies players