Bruce Trevor Reihana (born 6 April 1976) is a 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 ...

rugby player. He was a utility back, most notably for the majority of his career as captain of

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. ...

in the English Premiership.

Biography

Born in

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

, New Zealand, Reihana started playing in the

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship (NP ...

level with

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

in 1996 and led them to two

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challenge ...

victories out of three. He played for the Chiefs in the former

Super 12 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 ...

from 1997 to 2002 with 58 games and 123 points to his name. Internationally, Reihana represented the

New Zealand Sevens The New Zealand national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. They have won a record 14 World Rugby Sevens Series titles. The team played for the ...

in the

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

. He played in the

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ( Malay: ), officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games (Malay: ), were a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 1998 games were the first held in Asia and the last Commonwealth Games of the 20th cen ...

and the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...

, winning gold medals on each occasion. He made 11 appearances for New Zealand Māori. He made his debut for

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

on 18 November 2000. After not renewing his contract with the

New Zealand Rugby Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it b ...

in 2002, Reihana managed to get an overseas contact with Premiership side the

. He was used at fullback and became an influential figure for the Saints and even won the 2003–2004 PRA Players' Player of the Year Award. Reihana was scheduled to return to New Zealand rugby after his stint in Europe, but it did not materialise as he decided to stay in England citing personal reasons. Resuming his career with the Saints, Reihana was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

after Steve Thompson decided to step down as co-captain. During a 2006–07 Guinness Premiership match against

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

on 23 September 2006, Reihana suffered a knee

ligament A ligament is a type of fibrous connective tissue in the body that connects bones to other bones. It also connects flight feathers to bones, in dinosaurs and birds. All 30,000 species of amniotes (land animals with internal bones) have liga ...

injury that would sideline him until 2007. Reihana relinquished the Saints captaincy at the end of the 2008–09 Guinness Premiership, when

Dylan Hartley Dylan Hartley (born 24 March 1986) is a former rugby union player who represented England and Northampton Saints. Hartley was the captain of England from January 2016 until the end of his international career in 2019. Earning his first cap in ...

was appointed in his place. On 2 October 2010 Reihana scored 17 points against the

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

to take him through the milestone of 1,000 points for the Saints. Bruce left the Northampton Saints at the end of the

2010–11 Aviva Premiership 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

to join the French team, Bordeaux. This was announced over

BBC Radio Northampton BBC Radio Northampton is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Northamptonshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Abington Street in Northampton. According to RAJAR, the station has a we ...

during the final Aviva Premiership game of the season, against

Leeds Carnegie Leeds Carnegie was a brand name used by several sports teams associated with the Carnegie School of Physical Education, now part of Leeds Beckett University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LM ...

, as Bruce Reihana joined the field. At the end of the 2013–2014 Season, Reihana retired as a player from professional rugby and became the skills coach for the Bordeaux rugby team. He has since moved to Bristol at the beginning of the 2017/18 season to work with Bristol Rugby. Bruce Reihana was the Skills and Performance Coach with Bristol Bears and even more so still trained with his players in his fitness programs, he followed this mantra in doing the same with Bordeaux Begles Rugby and is still up with the fitness of The youngest players with in the first XV. In August 2020, Reihana left his role with Bristol Bears and became skills and attack coach for Clifton Rugby, linking up with former Bristol Captain Matt Salter for the National 2 south frontrunners as they bid to seal promotion to National League 1. In June 2021 he left Clifton to join

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

in the French Top 14 and was part of their title-winning staff in the 2021–22 season He is currently the attack coach for the ProD2 team CA-Brive.

References

External links

*
Saints profile

Bruce Reihana merchandise

Bruce Reihana Testimonial 2010/2011 official website

Purchase Bruce Reihana official prints
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reihana, Bruce 1976 births Living people Chiefs (Super Rugby) players Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games gold medallists in rugby sevens Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for New Zealand New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in France Māori All Blacks players New Zealand international rugby sevens players New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand male rugby sevens players New Zealand rugby union players Northampton Saints players Rugby sevens players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Rugby sevens players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union players from Thames, New Zealand Rugby union wings Union Bordeaux Bègles players Waikato rugby union players Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games People educated at Te Awamutu College New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in England