Brandon Nansen (born 3 November 1993) 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 currently plays as a

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

or loose forward for

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

. Previously Nansen represented North Harbour in New Zealand's provincial rugby tournament and the Blues in Super Rugby, for the

Dragons A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

in the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

and for

Stade Francais Stade (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (, ) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the district () which bears its name. It is located roughly to the west of Hamburg and b ...

and

CA Brive Club Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin, also referred to as CA Brive, Brive () or CAB, is a French professional rugby union club based in Brive-la-Gaillarde, in the Corrèze, Corrèze department. Brive is a historical member of French rugby un ...

in the French

Top14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

. He has also played internationally for

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

Early life

Nansen attended Sacred Heart College and represented at under-16 and under-18 level.

Club career

He started his senior career in 2013, playing for . He quickly became a regular in the side and went on to make 9 appearances for them as they lifted the Mitre 10 Cup Championship in

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 ...

and earned the right to play in the Premiership in 2017. Solid performances for North Harbour over the course of four seasons culminated in their promotion to the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership, and Nansen was named as a member of the squad for 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 ...

. Nansen joined the Welsh regional team the

for the 2018-19 season. On 3 July 2020, Nansen leaves Dragons to return to France to sign for

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of ), commonly known as simply Brive, is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglome ...

in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

for the 2020-21 season. On 29 May 2021, Nansen moves to England to join

in the

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

ahead of the 2021-22 season.

International career

Nansen was a

New Zealand Schoolboys The New Zealand Schools rugby union team, commonly referred to as the New Zealand schoolboys rugby team, is composed of secondary school students in New Zealand. In 1980 the New Zealand schoolboys rugby team had their first overseas tour, to Aus ...

representative in 2011, where he played in a side that featured future

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 ...

;

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 ...

and Patrick Tuipulotu.

Career honours

North Harbour * Mitre 10 Cup Championship –

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nansen, Brandon 1993 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union locks Rugby union flankers North Harbour rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland Dragons RFC players People educated at Sacred Heart College, Auckland New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Wales CA Brive players Stade Français Paris players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in France Samoa international rugby union players