Brayden Mitchell (born 21 January 1989 in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of ...

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 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

) is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

footballer. He plays as a

hooker Hooker may refer to: People * Hooker (surname) Places Antarctica * Mount Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (South Shetland Islands) New Zealand * Hooker River * Mount Hooker (New Zealand) in the Southern Alps * Hoo ...

for Southland in the

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

Playing career

Provincial Rugby

Mitchell, a product of the Southland academy system, made his debut for the Stags during the

2009 Air New Zealand Cup The 2009 Air New Zealand Cup was the 33rd provincial rugby union competition, the fourth since the competition reconstruction in 2006, involving the top 14 provincial unions in New Zealand. It ran for 15 weeks from 30 July to 7 November. It was ...

, and served as backup to

Jason Rutledge Jason Rutledge (born 15 December 1977) is a New Zealand rugby union player who played provincial rugby for Southland, and was in the Super Rugby team the Highlanders. Rutledge is widely known as New Zealands best hooker to have never played fo ...

after David Hall suffered a season-ending knee injury. He continued to apprentice behind Rutledge in the

2010 ITM Cup The 2010 ITM Cup season was the fifth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on July 29, when Taranaki hosted Northland. It involved the top fourteen rugby union ...

. Mitchell transferred to

Waikato Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, t ...

for the 2014 ITM Cup but moved back to Southland for 2016. A serious neck injury forced Mitchell to miss the entire

2018 Mitre 10 Cup The 2018 Mitre 10 Cup season was the thirteenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 16, when North Harbour hosted Northland. It involved the top fo ...

season.

Super Rugby

Mitchell was selected to the Highlanders squad for the

2011 Super Rugby season The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16t ...

, where he served as the team's 3rd choice hooker behind

and

Mahonri Schwalger Mahonri Schwalger (born 15 September 1978) is a former Samoan professional rugby union footballer who last played in New Zealand for the Chiefs in the Super Rugby competition and for Counties Manukau in the National Provincial Championship. H ...

and made 4 substitute appearances. He continued as the Highlanders 3rd choice hooker through 2014 before transferring to the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm, storm system characterized by a Low-pressure area, low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, Beaufort scale, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms tha ...

for

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, where he was a squad regular making 11 substitute appearances. For

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, Mitchell signed with the Chiefs.

International Play

Mitchell was a member of the 2009 New Zealand Under 20's who won the

IRB Junior World Championship The World Rugby Under 20 Championship (known as the IRB Junior World Championship until 2014) is an international rugby union competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby, and is contested by 12 men's junior nat ...

, and scored a try in the final 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 ...

after a brilliant pass from Stags teammate Alex Ryan.

External links

Highlanders Profile

New Zealand Under 20 Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Brayden 1989 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union hookers Highlanders (rugby union) players Southland rugby union players Waikato rugby union players Hurricanes (rugby union) players Rugby union players from Invercargill People educated at Southland Boys' High School