Mark Abbott (born 20 February 1990) is a

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 ...

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 currently plays as a

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

for in the

Japan Rugby League One Japan Rugby League One (), formerly known as the Top League (), is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, b ...

competition. He previously played for 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 ...

and in New Zealand's domestic

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 ...

Early career

Born in Christchurch and raised in the small town of Darfield, Abbott was educated at St. Andrew's College in his place of birth. After completing high school, he began studying towards a bachelor of commerce degree at 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 ...

while also making his way through the youth structures with national provincial championship side, . A lack of playing opportunities with Canterbury meant that after graduating university, he headed north to Napier to try and earn a contract with local provincial side, in 2013.

Senior career

Abbott made his senior debut for during the

2013 ITM Cup The 2013 ITM Cup season was the eighth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on 15 August, when Counties Manukau (National Provincial Championship), Counties Man ...

and went on to play 11 of the Magpies' 12 games during the year which culminated with them losing 26–25 to in the Championship playoff final. Abbott formed an impressive partnership with fellow Cantabrian Michael Allardice through 2013 and the duo were again in good form the following year with Abbott an ever present in a Hawke's Bay side which was once again defeated in the playoff final, this time 32-24 by . It was 3rd time luck for Abbott and the Magpies in

2015 ITM Cup The 2015 ITM Cup season was the tenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 13, when Southland hosted Auckland. It involved the top fourteen rugby uni ...

, with the lock scoring his first provincial try, playing all 12 games and winning his side's Forward of the Year award as the men from Napier finished top of the Championship log with 7 wins from 10 games and then defeated the and in the playoffs to gain promotion to the Premiership in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. Unfortunately for the Magpies, their stay in New Zealand's top flight was to last only one season as they ended up in last place on the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership log after recording just 2 wins from 10 games. Abbott's long time second row partner Allardice missed the entire campaign through injury, but in conjunction with up-and-coming youngster Geoffrey Cridge he turned in some good performances in trying circumstances, scoring 2 tries in 10 games.

Super Rugby

Just one season of provincial rugby with Hawke's Bay was all it took to bring Abbott to the attention of New Zealand's Super Rugby franchises and he opted to sign for the

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 ...

-based ahead of the

2014 Super Rugby season The 2014 Super Rugby season is the fourth season of the 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as Asteron Life Super Rugby ...

. As a result of his lack of top level experience and the 'Canes having locks such as

Jeremy Thrush Jeremy Thrush (born 19 April 1985) is a rugby union lock who plays for the Western Force. He previously played for in Super Rugby and Wellington Lions in the ITM Cup. He represented the Junior All Blacks, New Zealand Under-19 and New Zeal ...

, James Broadhurst and Blade Thomson on their books, Abbott was restricted to just 2 appearances in his first season of Super Rugby.

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

saw him feature far more regularly, playing 16 times with the majority of his game time coming from the replacements bench as Broadhurst and Thrush once again owned the starting berths. The Hurricanes were defeated finalists in 2015, going down 14–21 at home to the , however, they went one better in

, defeating South African side, the to lift the Super Rugby trophy. Abbott played 14 of their 18 games during the year, making just 5 starts as newcomers

Vaea Fifita Vaea Tangitau Lapota Fifita (born 17 June 1992) is a Tongan professional rugby union player who plays as a flanker for United Rugby Championship club Scarlets and the Tonga national team. Early life Born and raised on the Tongan island of ...

and

Michael Fatialofa Michael Fatialofa (born 14 September 1992) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a lock for Worcester Warriors in the Premiership. Early career Born in Auckland, Fatialofa was educated at Mount Albert Grammar School in h ...

overtook him in the queue for starting positions.

Career honours

Hurricanes *

Hawke's Bay Magpies * ITM Cup Championship -

Super Rugby statistics

References

External links

NZ Rugby History profile

Japan Rugby Player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, Mark 1991 births Living people People educated at St Andrew's College, Christchurch New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union players from Christchurch Rugby union locks Hawke's Bay rugby union players Hurricanes (rugby union) players Sunwolves players Coca-Cola Red Sparks players Munakata Sanix Blues players Saitama Wild Knights players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Japan Mie Honda Heat players