Jayden Hayward (born 11 February 1987) is a 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 played for the

Italy national rugby union team The Italy national rugby union team represents the Italian Rugby Federation in men's international rugby union. The team is known as ''gli Azzurri'' (the light-blues). Savoy blue is the common colour of the national teams representing Italy, as ...

and for Benetton Rugby.International Career
It's rugby. 2017 He can play as a fly-half, a centre or a fullback. His rugby professional career began in

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 ...

with

Taranaki Taranaki is a regions of New Zealand, region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Mount Taranaki, Taranaki Maunga, formerly known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the ...

in 2008, before a move to the Western Force in 2013.

Domestic career

Aged only 20, Hayward was one of the break-out stars of the 2008 Air New Zealand Cup, his debut championship year for

, scoring three tries in eight appearances. In his first season of first division rugby, picked up two awards – for the most promising player of the year and for back of the year. Hayward's performance didn't go unnoticed by the national media or the Super 14 coaches. He received high praise from television, print and radio commentators. Hayward didn't play in the opening two games and only got his chance as a replacement against Tasman in Nelson. He made an immediate impact with his decisive running and ability to spot a gap. His ability to put a player into space also caught the eye. He finished the year as the first-choice second five-eighth. After an impressive showing in the Air New Zealand Cup in 2008, Hayward was the second-youngest player (next to Israel Dagg) included on the Highlanders squad for the 2009 Super 14 season. He earned his first Super Rugby start in the Highlanders historic 6–0 victory over the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

in Week 4 of the competition, and made a further 3 appearances as a substitute. In

, Hayward continued to be a key contributor, appearing in 13 matches and recording 2 tries. He returned to the Highlanders for

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, Hayward was given an opportunity to start the first two games of the season, but found himself out-of-favour as the season went along, making only 3 substitute appearances the rest of the way. He was one of the more consistent backs of the 2010 ITM Cup, playing every game for the amber and blacks and scored five tries. Hayward was also Top try-scorer for the side and was judged back of the year ahead of finalists Kurt Baker and David Smith. Hayward was not brought back to the Highlanders for the 2011 Super 15 season, and instead signed on 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 ...

as a member of their wider training group. He was called up as a replacement for Ma’a Nonu who was serving a one-week suspension, but injuries elsewhere and compelling form made him a permanent squad member from that point on, and seven of his 11 appearances were in the starting XV. Playing his fourth consecutive ITM Cup season for Taranaki in 2011, Hayward broke a

first-class record – scoring a try in 10 consecutive matches. The run started against Hawke's Bay in September 2010 and ended when he failed to score against

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty () is a large bight (geography), bight along the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stretches from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. Called ''Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi'' (the Ocean ...

in August 2011. Nevertheless, there was a bigger prize at season's end; the Ranfurly Shield. After playing his second

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 ...

season in 2012 with the

and after 58 appearances for

, Hayward signed a two-year contract with the Western Force. In 2014 Hayward moved to

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

, Italy, to play for Benetton Rugby until 2021 season.

International career

Hayward had been included in a 24-strong squad for a four-day national sevens camp in Mt Maunganui. It was the first of two before Tietjens named a squad of 12 for the opening tournaments of the 2007–08 IRB Sevens World Series, to be played in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

and

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in December. In 2017 Hayward obtained Italian citizenship and is now playing for , making his test debut against at

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

on 11 November 2017. On 18 August 2019, he was named in the final 31-man squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. and he represented Italy on 27 occasions with 5 points, from 2017 to 2020.

References

External links

Western Force Player Profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayward, Jayden 1987 births New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand Māori rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players Hurricanes (rugby union) players Western Force players Taranaki rugby union players Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Hāwera New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Australia Expatriate rugby union players in Italy New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Italy Living people Benetton Rugby players Italian rugby union players Italy international rugby union players Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union wings 2019 Rugby World Cup players