Mark Darren "Sharky" Robinson (born 21 August 1975 in

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

, New Zealand) is a New Zealand former

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 ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He played international rugby union 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 ...

between 1997 and 2001. He played provincial rugby in New Zealand for North Harbour and Super 12 rugby for the Waikato Chiefs and then the Auckland Blues. He briefly played

for the

New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

before moving overseas to play with

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

and then London Wasps, both in England. He retired from professional rugby in 2010.

Career in rugby union and rugby league

Born in

, Robinson grew up in

Whangārei Whangārei () is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the largest settlement of the Northland Region. It is part of the Whangarei District, created in 1989 from the former Whangarei City, Whangarei County and Hikurangi Town councils to admi ...

. He emerged as a prospective rugby player when he moved to North Harbour during his teenage years, making the Harbour Colts and New Zealand Colts in 1995 playing in the inaugural World under 21 tournament in Argentina. He entered first-class rugby the following year with Harbour. He played for the Chiefs in the international Super 12 competition. In 1997 he toured with the All Blacks and played three games in Europe and was selected as reserve to Justin Marshall for the final test against England at Twickenham, but injury forced him to sit this out. The following year he played in his first Test against England in Dunedin, for England's Tour of Hell. In 1999 he moved to the re-organised Auckland Blues, and appeared five times for New Zealand 'A' that season. In 2000 he also played for the New Zealand 'A' side that toured Europe. In 2001 he was recalled to the All Blacks for the end-of-year tour. He played in matches against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and Scotland 'A', as well as the Test 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 ...

. He also played in the Test against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. In 2003 he signed to play rugby league for the New Zealand Warriors for only one season prior to moving to the UK to join up with the Northampton Saints. He played one game at hooker. arsh shakes off injury, tipped to play ''Waikato Times'', 29 April 2003 For most of the year he played for the North Harbour Tigers in the 2005 Bartercard Cup. He also played for the Barbarians from 2002 to 2009 playing a total of 13 games for the famous rugby club and in 2003 Robinson was a member of the Barbarians team in the victories over England, Scotland and Wales. In 2003 he signed for

in the English Premiership, and on 22 May 2008 he transferred to London Wasps. In May 2010 Robinson called time on his rugby career after a degenerative knee injury forced him to retire after two seasons at the Wasps. He said "It has been a very difficult season for me and despite every effort to come back, my knee injury is just too severe and too painful to continue".

All Blacks statistics

Tests: 3 (0 as Captain)
Games: 5 (0 as Captain)
Total Matches: 8 (0 as Captain)
Test Points: 5pts (1t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)
Game Points: 10pts (2t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)
Total Points: 15pts (3t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

References

External links

Northampton profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Mark 1975 births Living people 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Barbarian F.C. players Blues (Super Rugby) players Chiefs (Super Rugby) players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in England New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand Warriors players North Harbour rugby league team players North Harbour rugby union players Northampton Saints players People educated at Whangarei Boys' High School Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Palmerston North Rugby union players from Palmerston North Rugby union scrum-halves Wasps RFC players