Mitchell Graham (born 30 January 1991) 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

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

for in New Zealand's domestic

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 ...

and the in the international

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 ...

competition.

Early career

Born in the rural

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

town of Matamata, he was educated at

St Peter's School, Cambridge St Peter's School is a Private School#New Zealand, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational, Anglican secondary school for Years 7–13 in Cambridge, New Zealand. The school is located on of ground, surrounded by school-owned farmland along ...

where he played first XV rugby. During his high school years, he represented at under-16 level before moving to Christchurch to study chemical engineering 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 in Christchurch, Graham represented at under-18 and under-21 level.

Senior career

Graham made one appearance for in

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while still studying at university before heading north to join the Taranaki Bulls after graduation. The move to Taranaki immediately played off as he started all 12 of their games during the 2014 season which culminated in them lifting the ITM Cup Premiership title with a 36–32 victory over in the final. He was again an ever present in the number 1 jersey through

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 ...

with the Bulls this time faltering at the semi-final stage. He took his run of consecutive starts in a Taranaki jersey to 34 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 ...

with his side again reaching the competition's semi-finals before they went down to .

Super Rugby

Graham's form in the loosehead prop position during Taranaki's 2014 title winning season brought him to the attention of

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-based Super Rugby franchise, the Chiefs, who named him as a member of their squad for the

2015 Super Rugby season The 2015 Super Rugby season was the 20th season of Super Rugby and the fifth season featuring an expanded 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition was known as Asteron Life Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New ...

. Competing against

Jamie Mackintosh Jamie Mackintosh (born 20 February 1985) is a New Zealand former professional rugby union player currently an assistant coach for the Hurricanes (rugby union) in Super Rugby. He previously played for Section Paloise in the French Top 14 compet ...

and

Pauliasi Manu Pauliasi Manu (born 23 December 1987) is a New Zealand former rugby union player and current coach. Manu is a specialist prop. He played for the in Super Rugby. Career Early career Manu debuted for Auckland in the 2008 season, and in doing ...

for the number 1 jersey, Graham made an impressive 10 appearances during his debut season in Super Rugby. He remained a member of the squad through

and with Manu missing the majority of the campaign through injury, Graham was able to establish himself as the Chiefs first-choice loosehead prop, playing 14 times and scoring 1 try. He was again named in the Chiefs squad for 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 ...

. Playing for the Chiefs in the 2017 Brisbane Tens Graham fractured the tibia and fibula in his left leg, in a potentially career-ending injury.

Career Honours

Canterbury * Mitre 10 Cup Premiership -

Taranaki * Mitre 10 Cup Premiership -

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Statistics

Club

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Mitchell 1991 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union props Chiefs (Super Rugby) players Canterbury rugby union players Taranaki rugby union players University of Canterbury alumni People from Putāruru People educated at St Peter's School, Cambridge Rugby union players from Waikato 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen