Zarn Sullivan (born 10 July 2000) 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 fullback or fly-half 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 for 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 ...

competition.

Early career

Sullivan was born in Napier in

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay () is a region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region is named for Hawke Bay, which was named in honour of Edward Hawke. The region's main centres are the cities of Napier and Hastings, while the more rural ...

, where he attended Napier Boys' High School. While at Napier Boys', he played for the school's First XV team and represented

at Under 14 and Under 16 level. In 2017, he followed in his brother Bailyn Sullivan's footsteps and moved to

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

where he spent his final two years of secondary school at King's College. He played for the college's First XV team in the Auckland 1A 1st XV competition. In 2017, an injury prevented him from being selected in the

Under 18 squad, but a year later he was invited to attend the Under 18 camp. In 2019, Sullivan represented Auckland at Under 19 level at the Jock Hobbs Memorial National Under 19 tournament. That same year – his first year out of school – he was named the Auckland Rugby "Club Rookie of the Year" at the province's end-of-year awards function. In 2019 and 2020, he played for both the Blues Under 20 – via Facebook and the Blues 'A' team. – via Facebook

Senior career

In September 2020, Sullivan was named in the squad for the 2020 Mitre 10 Cup season. He made his debut for the province – via the bench – on 20 September 2020 against and earned his first start on 17 October 2020 against . His first, successful season playing for Auckland saw him rewarded with a spot in the squad for the

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 ...

. Having already played for the Blues during preseason ahead of 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 ...

, after being offered an Interim Training Contract, he made his

debut for the franchise on 1 May 2021 against a side that featured his brother Bailyn Sullivan. He scored a try on debut. Sullivan went on to play 7 games for the Blues in his first season, which culminated in the franchise winning the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman title. While he played all his 1st XV rugby and age-grade representative rugby at first five-eighth, he played at fullback in all his senior games for Auckland and the Blues. He did this so well, that he was named the Blues "Rookie of the Year" at the end of the 2021 season. In November 2021, Sullivan re-signed with the Blues until the end of the 2024 Super Rugby season.

International career

In 2018, after his last year at King's College, Sullivan was named in the New Zealand Secondary Schools team for a three-match international series in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. He played in all three games, including a 24–12 victory over Australian Schools. A year later, Sullivan - who is of

Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi (tribe) located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions. The Kahungunu iwi also comprises 86 hapū (sub-tribes ...

descent - was selected to play for the first ever New Zealand Māori Under 20 team in a match against . The NZ Māori Under 20 team, which Sullivan co-captained, won the game 48 to 31. Late 2019 and early 2020, Sullivan was invited to attend the New Zealand Under 20 trial and development camps in preparation of the 2020 Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship and World Rugby U20 Championship. Unfortunately, Sullivan missed out on playing for the New Zealand Under 20 team, because these tournaments were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In June 2022, Sullivan and his brother Bailyn were – for the first time – named in the

Māori All Blacks The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing is ...

squad to take on

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

on their New Zealand tour. He made his debut for the side on 29 June 2022, when the Māori All Blacks beat Ireland 32–17 in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

. Sullivan, who for the first time played together with his brother, had a man-of-the-match performance and scored a try on debut.

Reference list

External links

NZ Rugby History profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Zarn 2000 births Living people Ngāti Kahungunu people People educated at Napier Boys' High School People educated at King's College, Auckland Rugby union players from Napier, New Zealand New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union fullbacks Auckland rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Māori All Blacks players 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen