Mark Hammett

Mark Garry 'Hammer' Hammett (born 13 July 1972) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player. Having represented Canterbury provincially 76 times, and the Crusaders 81 times and the All Blacks 30 times – including 29 Test matches, Hammett later went on to coach both Canterbury and Crusaders as a forwards/assistant coach. He is currently on the assistant coach of the in Super Rugby and the Tasman Makos in the Mitre 10 Cup.

Playing career

Early career: 1989–97 Hammett first represented New Zealand, while he was a pupil at St Thomas of Canterbury College, when selected for the New Zealand Under 17 team in 1989. He then captained the Under 19 team in 1991, before making his first appearance for Canterbury in 1992. Although his one game for Canterbury in 1992 was as a replacement, he played seven games the following season. The 1997 season went better for Hammett; the Crusaders finished sixth, and the Canterbury provincial team won the National Provincial Championship (NPC) after beating Counties in the final. Despite this, the Crusaders defeated the reigning champions 20–13. Hammett was rewarded with a New Zealand trial, where he captained his team. Hammett's achievements with the Crusaders were rewarded by being called into the All Blacks in 1999, at the age of 26. His first game was against New Zealand 'A', on 11 June in Christchurch, quickly followed by his first Test against France on 26 June. Canterbury then reached the NPC final, giving Hammett the opportunity to be part of a Super 12, Ranfurly Shield, and NPC winning team, all in the same year. Wellington won the NPC final however, and the opportunity was lost. Hammett was then selected for the end-of-year All Blacks tour, and played against France and Italy (both as a substitute). Due to injury, Hammett only played one game for the All Blacks, as a substitute against Argentina in June.

Final seasons: 2002–03 After the 2001 NPC, Crusaders' captain Todd Blackadder left New Zealand to play rugby in Scotland. During the 2002 Super 12 pre-season, half-back Justin Marshall questioned which of the senior players were going to step into Blackadder's leadership role for the tough matches. Hammett took the comment "as a slap in the face", as "one player doesn't make a team." He again played for the All Blacks in 2002, starting against Australia and South Africa in the Tri-Nations. Hammett's last match was his 76th for Canterbury. Although the Crusaders lost the final, Hammett scored two tries, becoming one of only three players to score two tries in a Super 12 final. Despite the two tries, Hammett calls the match the biggest disappointment of his career. He planned to continue playing after 2003, however a neck injury during the 2004 pre-season ended his playing career.

Honours

New Zealand Rugby World Cup / Webb Ellis Cup Third: 2003 Fourth: 1999 Tri Nations Winners: 1999, 2002, 2003 Runners-up: 2000, 2001 Bledisloe Cup Winners: 2003 Dave Gallaher Trophy Winners: 2000

Crusaders Super 12 Winners: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 Runners-up: 2003 Canterbury National Provincial Championship Winners: 1997, 2001 Runners-up: 2000

Coaching career

In New Zealand: 2006–2014 Two years after his playing career ended with the Crusaders, Hammett was back with the Crusaders, working as a forwards coaching adviser for the 2006 Super 14 season. Hammett remained as assistant coach from 2007 to 2010, and was not appointed as Crusaders' head coach when Robbie Deans left to coach Australia in 2008; Todd Blackadder was given the head coach role instead. After the 2011 Super Rugby season – his first season in charge – Hammett decided controversially not to renew the contracts of All Blacks Ma'a Nonu and then Hurricanes' captain Andrew Hore. In the three years at the helm in Wellington, the Hurricanes failed to progress to the knock-out phase of the competition, only getting as high as seventh on the table; in 2014 Super Rugby season. In April 2014 Hammett indicated he would not be seeking to renew his contract when it expired at the end of the 2014 season.

Outside New Zealand: 2014–2016 On 18 May 2014, Hammett was named Director of Rugby for Wales-based team Cardiff Blues, working alongside Dale McIntosh and Paul John. The Mark Hammett era was a slow start, losing both the pre-season friendlies. However, the first round saw Cardiff defeat Zebre 41–26. Despite only winning one game in his first competitive 6 games, Hammett lead Cardiff to a surprise victory over French side Grenoble and an easy victory over Rovigo Delta in the 2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup. These games were backed-up by a narrow loss to Irish giants Munster. On 24 January 2015, Hammett led the Blues to an away victory over Grenoble, to see the side through to the quarter-finals of the 2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup. On 20 February 2015, Cardiff were beaten by Benetton Treviso 40–24 in Treviso, which later turned out to be Hammett's last game in charge of the Welsh side. On 25 February 2015, after six months of a three-year contract, Cardiff Blues agreed to release Hammett at his request for personal reasons, to allow him to return home to New Zealand.

On 21 December 2015, the Japan Rugby Football Union announced Hammett as the head coach of the newly formed Japanese Super Rugby franchise, the Sunwolves. In their debut season, the side finished bottom of the newly expanded table, with 1 win. Ironically, their win came against the other newly formed team, the Jaguares, a team made up predominantly of the successful Argentine side from the 2015 Rugby World Cup. On 27 June, it was announced that Hammett would be leaving the Japanese side to return to New Zealand. It had previously been announced that Hammett would be joining the Tasman Makos in 2016 as their new assistant coach for the 2016 Mitre 10 Cup. While in June 2016, it was announced that Mark Hammett will remain in Super Rugby, but as an assistant coach at the Highlanders.

In March 2016, Hammett was named as the caretaker coach for the Japanese national team, while Jamie Joseph closes out his contract with the Highlanders. Hammett led the Brave Blossoms to a 26–22 win over Canada, before losing 2–0 to Scotland during their two-test series.

2017 onwards

Hammett was assistant coach for the Highlanders under the Head coach Aaron Mauger.

Coaching Honours Crusaders (as assistant coach) Super 14 / Super Rugby Winners: 2006, 2008 Runners-up: 2011