Gary Ivan Mercer (born 22 June 1966) is a New Zealand

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

and

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 ...

coach and former professional rugby league footballer. A New Zealand international representative player, he has spent most of his career in Britain both playing and coaching. He is a former defence coach of

Glasgow Warriors The 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 beca ...

and a former coach at the SRU working in their Scottish Rugby Academy. As of March 2016, he was the head coach of Biggar RFC.

Playing career

In his long career he has represented the

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team () has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the Kiwi (bird), native bird of that name. The team' ...

within rugby league and New Zealand Māori sides and has played for the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. They play their home games at Wheldon Road (currently known as the Mend-A-Hose Jungle for sponsorship reasons) and compete in the Super League, t ...

and Halifax.

Challenge Cup Final appearances

Gary Mercer played at in

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

's 14-36 defeat by

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

in the

1990 Challenge Cup Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno D ...

Final during the 1989–90 season at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on Saturday 28 April 1990, in front of a crowd of 77,729.

County Cup Final appearances

Gary Mercer played in

's 12-12 draw with

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

in the 1987 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1987–88 season at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

on Saturday 17 October 1987, and played at in the 11-2 victory over

in the 1987 Yorkshire Cup Final replay during the 1987–88 season at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

on Saturday 31 October 1987.

Regal Trophy Final appearances

Gary Mercer played at in

's 12-2 victory over

in the 1990–91 Regal Trophy Final during the 1990–91 season at

on Saturday 12 January 1991.

Coaching career

Rugby League

Mercer was also the

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

at the Halifax Blue Sox, and coach at the

, his first game in charge was on 25 April 2004, and his last game in charge was on 18 September 2004.

Rugby Union

Glasgow Warriors

Mercer switched to rugby union and became the defence coach for the

from June 2005 to June 2012 leaving the Warriors at the same time as Sean Lineen. While he was there praise was heaped on his defensive coaching.

Scotland

He became the Scotland Under-20 assistant coach and worked with the Under-21 side. He then worked for the Scottish Rugby Academy.

Yorkshire Carnegie

He left the Scottish academy in August 2014 to have a brief spell running

Yorkshire Carnegie Leeds Tykes (formerly Leeds RUFC, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the National League 2 North. The club was founded as Headingley FC, but renamed in 1991 whe ...

Glasgow Hawks

Mercer was the head coach of Glasgow Hawks.

Biggar

Mercer moved on to Biggar.

FUDs

Founding member of the FUDs society, with co-members Toby Harris and Nathan Rainbow.

References

External links

Warrington's World Cup heroes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercer, Gary 1966 births Living people 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Bay of Plenty rugby league team players Bradford Bulls players Castleford Tigers coaches Castleford Tigers players Expatriate rugby league coaches Glasgow Warriors coaches Halifax Panthers coaches Halifax Panthers players Leeds Rhinos coaches Leeds Rhinos players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in England New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league coaches New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union coaches Northern Districts rugby league team players Oldham R.L.F.C. coaches Other Nationalities rugby league team players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Tauranga Rugby league wingers Warrington Wolves players