Corey Robert Flynn (born 5 January 1981) is a New Zealand

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 ...

player who currently plays for West Coast in the

Heartland Championship The Heartland Championship competition, known for sponsorship reasons as the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship, is a domestic rugby union competition in New Zealand. It was founded in 2006 as one of two successor competitions to the count ...

. He plays in the position of

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 ...

Career

Club career

Flynn previously played provincial for Southland until he moved to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

in 2003; has played

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 previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

rugby for the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

; and has played in

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 French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

for

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...

. On 29 February 2016 it was announced that Flynn would sign for

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

at the end of the 2015–16 season. Flynn had already played in Scotstoun with Toulouse and stated: "When I played at Scotstoun last season, the atmosphere was fantastic and it shows the club has a really good support base. I jumped at the chance to join the Warriors after chatting to Gregor and I'm good friends with Scotland full-back Sean Maitland and he couldn't say enough good things about Glasgow." On 26 May 2017 it was announced that Flynn was no longer contracted by the Warriors.

International career

Flynn made his international debut for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 198 ...

against Canada after a surprise selection ahead of Anton Oliver in the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

. He has also played for New Zealand Maori and the

Junior All Blacks The All Blacks XV is the second national rugby union team of New Zealand, after the All Blacks. New Zealand's second national team has had numerous names in its history: Junior All Blacks, New Zealand XV, New Zealand A, New Zealand B, All Blacks ...

. On 31 May 2006, Flynn was named captain of the

after Reuben Thorne declined the role.

Biography

He was educated at

Southland Boys' High School Southland Boys' High School (SBHS) is an all-boys school in Invercargill, New Zealand, and has been the only one in the city since Marist Brothers was merged with St Catherines to form Verdon College in 1982. History SBHS was founded in 1881 a ...

. Flynn comes from a family with a long history in rugby with his father and two uncles playing for Southland Rugby. One of his uncles, Robbie Flynn, played rugby for the United States, Aaron Flynn, also played for the

from 1998 to 2002.

After rugby

He returned in 2021/22 for season 2 of ''Match Fit''. He revealed that he lost much of his skills as a lineout thrower, and his career had been marred by shoulder, elbow and ankle injuries, but his anger and frustrations spills over as they were misdirected towards coaches, and also developed drinking problems until he recovered in 2011.

References

External links

Crusaders profile
*
Corey talking about Earth Hour
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flynn, Corey 1981 births New Zealand international rugby union players Canterbury rugby union players People educated at Southland Boys' High School Living people Ngāi Tahu people Crusaders (rugby union) players New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union players from Invercargill Rugby union hookers Māori All Blacks players Southland rugby union players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate rugby union players in France Stade Toulousain players Glasgow Warriors players Expatriate rugby union players in Scotland New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Scotland