Andrew Ellis (born 21 February 1984) is a New Zealand

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 plays the position of scrum-half for Rugby New York in

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR) is a professional rugby union competition in the United States. The league comprises 11 teams. While operating outside of the governance and oversight of the national governing body, the league is officially sanctioned ...

(MLR). He previously played for the Kobelco Steelers in Japan, 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

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

in provincial rugby.

Career

In 2005 Ellis played in the New Zealand under-21 side. His Super 14 rookie year saw him oust All Black Kevin Senio from the

starting line-up. Ellis missed the 2006 Super 14 Final after sustaining a knee injury in the semi-final against the Bulls. Although injury meant Ellis was unavailable for the 2006

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 ...

tests 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

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 ...

, he was later named to make his All Black debut against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at Twickenham. For the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

Ellis was selected ahead of Wellington halfback Piri Weepu. After the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

Ellis wasn't selected for the All Blacks Squad again until 2015 against Samoa in Apia, as Tawera Kerr-Barlow was out 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 ...

and both Aaron Smith and TJ Perenara had played in the 2015 Super Rugby Final.

Personal life

Ellis attended Burnside High School from 1997 to 2001. He is the eldest of three children to Sue and Greg Ellis. He has two siblings: Amanda and Simon. Ellis married his wife, Emma Bainbridge, in 2007, after a seven-year relationship. In December 2009 they had a daughter, Scarlett and in 2014 a son named Arthur. In 2018 Ellis helped launch Gravity satellite internet for rural New Zealanders with no traditional access to broadband.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Andrew 1984 births Living people New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves Canterbury rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players Rugby union players from Christchurch People educated at Burnside High School New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Japan Kobelco Kobe Steelers players Barbarian F.C. players Rugby New York players 2007 Rugby World Cup players 2011 Rugby World Cup players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in the United States 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen