Finlay Turner Christie (born 19 September 1995) is a Scotland born, 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 as a halfback for in the

Bunnings NPC Bunnings Group Limited, trading as Bunnings Warehouse or Bunnings, is an Australian hardware and garden centre chain. The chain has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994, and has stores in Australia and New Zealand. Bunnings was founded in Pert ...

and the in

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 ...

. Born in Scotland, he represents

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 ...

at international level after qualifying on residency grounds.

Early life

Christie was born in Peebles in Scotland, and moved to New Zealand aged 7, settling in the city of

Pukekohe Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. The town is located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. The hills of Puke ...

. He shone at gymnastics and rugby during his schooldays. Christie attended

Saint Kentigern College Saint Kentigern College is a private co-educational Presbyterian secondary school in Auckland, New Zealand. The school is operated by the Saint Kentigern Trust Board. Established in 1953, the college is semi co-educational, with a single-gender ...

where he played for the college's top side. He represented at under 19 level before heading south to

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

for university. In 2016 he was awarded the Hawkins Medal as Canterbury's top club rugby player for his performances for the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

Club career

Provincial

Christie's performances at club level saw him sign with

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in traditional Christianity. Mi ...

side for the

2016 Mitre 10 Cup The 2016 Mitre 10 Cup season was the eleventh season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 18, when North Harbour (National Provincial Championship), North Ha ...

season. Christie made his debut in Round 1 against at

Lansdowne Park Lansdowne Park is a urban park, historic sports, exhibition and entertainment facility in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, owned by the City of Ottawa. It is located on Bank Street adjacent to the Rideau Canal in The Glebe neighbourhood of central Ott ...

in Blenheim scoring a try. He was part of the Tasman side that won the

for the first time in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. In Round 9 of the

2020 Mitre 10 Cup The 2020 Mitre 10 Cup season was the 15th season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on September 11, when North Harbour (National Provincial Championship), North Har ...

Christie played his 50th game for the Mako against at

in Blenheim. The Mako went on to win their second premiership title in a row with Christie playing every minute of the 12–13 victory over in the final at

Eden Park Eden Park is a sports venue in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located three kilometres southwest of the Auckland CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and Kingsland. The main stadium has a nominal capacity of 50,000, and is s ...

Super Rugby

Following his impressive first season at provincial level, he signed with

side the ahead of 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 ...

. At the end of the 2017 season Christie signed with the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

for the

2018 Super Rugby season The 2018 Super Rugby season was the 23rd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. After two seasons in which 18 teams participate ...

. In 2018 Christie made 6 appearances for the Hurricanes scoring a try on debut against the

Sunwolves The Sunwolves ( Japanese: ) – previously known as the HITO-Communications Sunwolves for sponsorship reasons – were a professional rugby union team and Japan's representative team in SANZAAR's international Super Rugby competition. The team w ...

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. He played a further 8 matches for the Hurricanes in the

2019 Super Rugby season The 2019 Super Rugby season was the 24th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. The 2019 season was the second season using the ...

before moving to the for the

2020 Super Rugby season The 2020 Super Rugby season was the 25th season of Super Rugby, the international men's rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR involving teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It was the third tournament in i ...

. He was out injured before the season was cancelled, but then played in the

Super Rugby Aotearoa Super Rugby Aotearoa named the Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa for sponsorship purposes was a professional men's rugby union national club competition in New Zealand. Originally created to supplement the 2020 Super Rugby season, which was suspended due ...

competition making his Blues debut against his old team the at

. Christie was named in the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

squad for the

North vs South rugby union match The North vs South match, sometimes known as the Interisland match, was a longstanding rugby union fixture in New Zealand between the North Island and South Island teams. The first match was played on 30 June 1897 at Wellington's Athletic Park, a ...

in 2020 coming off the bench in a 38–35 win for the South. Christie had an outstanding

2021 Super Rugby season The 2021 Super Rugby season was the 26th season of Super Rugby, an annual men's international rugby union tournament organised by SANZAAR, involving teams from Australia and New Zealand. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the tournament was wholly reg ...

particularly during the

Super Rugby Trans-Tasman Super Rugby Trans-Tasman (known as Harvey Norman Super Rugby Trans-Tasman in Australia and Sky (New Zealand), Sky Super Rugby Trans-Tasman in New Zealand) was a professional men's rugby union club competition in Australia and New Zealand. It fea ...

competition where he started all of the Blues 6 games as they won the competition with a 23–15 win over the in the final. He had a very good

2022 Super Rugby Pacific season The 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season (known as Harvey Norman Super Rugby Pacific in Australia and DHL Super Rugby Pacific in New Zealand) is the 27th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams f ...

as the Blues made it to the final where they lost 7–21 to the . He missed most of the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season through injury, but came back to play a starring role in the Grand Final, where he set up Caleb Clarke for one of his hat trick of tries, as the Blues went on to win their 4th title, beating neighbours, the Chiefs, by 41-10, and ending a 21 year title drought.

International career

After the

Christie was named in the New Zealand squad to play

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

and

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

in the July Steinlager Series. He made his debut against Tonga at

Mount Smart Stadium Mount Smart Stadium, currently known as Go Media Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Penrose, Auckland, New Zealand. It is the main home ground of the New Zealand Warriors of the National Rugby League a ...

, coming off the bench in a 102–0 win, becoming All Black number

1196 Year 1196 ( MCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * December – Emperor Alexios III (Angelos) is threatened by Emperor Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who demands 5,000 ...

. He played a further four test matches in 2021 and was again selected for the All Blacks in 2022.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Christie, Finlay 1995 births Living people Blues (Super Rugby) players Chiefs (Super Rugby) players Hurricanes (rugby union) players New Zealand international rugby union players People educated at Saint Kentigern College People from Pukekohe Rugby union players from Peebles Rugby union scrum-halves Scottish emigrants to New Zealand Tasman rugby union players 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen 2023 Rugby World Cup players New Zealand rugby union players