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Ollie Sapsford (born 7 October 1995) is a professional rugby union player, who currently plays as a midfield back or wing for the Brumbies in Super Rugby. In New Zealand, he most recently played for Hawke's Bay in the National Provincial Championship. Born in New Zealand, he represents Australia at international level, being eligible for that country on ancestry grounds.

Early life and career

Sapsford hails from Ashburton in the Canterbury Region on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. He attended Ashburton College and played age grade rugby for Mid Canterbury up to Under 16 level. He didn't play 1st XV rugby at school.

Sapsford left school at the age of 16 and started a building apprenticeship. After finishing his apprenticeship, he left for Western Australia to work on a farm for a year. While there, he played Australian rules football at club level, picking up skills that proved to be helpful in the next phases of his rugby career. After his return to New Zealand, he started playing rugby again and represented Mid Canterbury in the Heartland Championship in 2016.

Following Sapsford's season playing for Mid Canterbury, he was offered a Wellington Rugby Academy contract and played two seasons for the Wellington Development team.

Early 2019, Sapsford moved to Hawke's Bay where he played for Taradale Rugby & Sports in the province's club rugby competition.

Senior career

On 4 August 2019, Sapsford was named in the Hawke's Bay squad for the 2019 Mitre 10 Cup season. He made his debut for the Magpies on 11 August 2019 against Manawatu and scored his first try for the province on 28 September 2019 in their game against Bay of Plenty.

In December 2019, Sapsford also represented Hawke's Bay at the Central Region Sevens Tournament and the New Zealand National Rugby Sevens Tournament.

Sapsford was again named in the Hawke's Bay squad for the 2020 and the 2021 season. During the 2020 Mitre 10 Cup season, Sapsford helped the Magpies win the Ranfurly Shield, successfully defend the Shield three times and win the Mitre 10 Cup Championship, thus securing a well-deserved promotion to the Premiership division. The Magpies held on to the Shield during the entire 2021 Bunnings NPC season – winning all six Ranfurly Shield defences – and finished the regular season at the top of the Premiership table. They missed out on a spot in the Premiership Final after a 27 – 33 semi-final loss to Tasman. In the regular season game against Manawatu on 30 October 2021, Sapsford scored a hat-trick in an eye-catching performance.

From 2017 to 2019, Sapsford played several games for the Hurricanes Development team. However, it was eventually an Australian Super Rugby franchise that offered him a contract. On 3 November 2021, the Brumbies announced that they had signed Sapsford on a two-year deal. He made his Super Rugby debut for his new team on 20 February 2022 against the Western Force. Sapsford scored his first Super Rugby try for the Brumbies on 2 June 2023 against the Rebels.

On 13 June 2023, the Brumbies announced that Sapsford had re-signed with the franchise for another season.

International career

Following an impressive performance for the Hawke's Bay Sevens team in December 2019, Sapsford was called up to train with the All Blacks Sevens Development squad. In February 2020, he was one of the newly contracted players who were added to the All Blacks Sevens team that prepared for the 2020 Summer Olympics. One month later, World Rugby postponed all remaining tournaments of the 2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series due to the COVID-19 pandemic and cancelled them altogether on 30 June 2020. The 2020 Olympics were postponed to 2021.

Sapsford was among the All Blacks Sevens players contracted for 2021 and was named among the non-travelling reserves for the men's rugby sevens tournament at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Again due to impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the All Blacks Sevens did not compete at the only two tournaments of the 2021 World Rugby Sevens Series.

All in all, despite being part of the 2020 and 2021 All Blacks Sevens squad, Sapsford only had the opportunity to play for the team in warm-up matches against the Australian Sevens team during the Trans-Tasman Sevens tournament in May 2021.

On 5 July 2023, Sapsford was named in the Australia A squad for a one-off match against Tonga. He qualifies for Australia on ancestry grounds via his mother. He made his debut for Australia A on 14 July 2023, coming onto the field in the 56th minute of the game. Australia lost the game to Tonga 21–27. In November 2024, he played two games for the team (then named Australia XV) against Bristol Bears and England A.

References

1. "Ollie Sapsford". Brumbies. 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
2. "2023 Magpies squad release". Hawke's Bay Rugby Union. 5 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
3. "ACT Brumbies recruit Ollie Sapsford's story of persistence". Canberra Times. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
4. ^ "Late bloomer Sapsford ready to make mark with Brumbies". allblacks.com. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
5. "Heartland Championship Preview". allblacks.com. 23 August 2016. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
6. "Wellington Development Team named". Wellington RFU (Press release). 27 September 2017. Archived from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
7. "2018 Development Squad". Wellington RFU. 2018. Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
8. "Hawke's Bay Rugby: Nash Cup teams". Hawke's Bay Today. 16 March 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
9. "Magpies 2019 Mitre 10 Cup Squad Named". Hawke's Bay Rugby Union (Press release). 4 August 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
10. "Rugby: Sam McNicol feared concussion would end rugby career". Hawke's Bay Today. 10 August 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
11. "Match Centre: Bay of Plenty v Hawke's Bay". Fox Sports. 28 September 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
12. "Sevens: Hawke's Bay men third, Tuis runners-up at Central Region in Levin". Hawke's Bay Today. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
13. "Sevens: It's all about fun for Magpies Ollie Sapsford at nationals". Hawke's Bay Today. 14 December 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
14. "Plenty of depth in Magpies Mitre 10 Cup rugby squad". Hawke's Bay App. 7 September 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
15. "Magpies' team of homegrowns ready for NPC and Ranfurly Shield". Hawke's Bay Today. 27 July 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
16. "Ranfurly Shield roundabout continues". Provincial Rugby. 4 October 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
17. "Magpies crowned kings of the Championship". Provincial Rugby. 27 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
18. "NPC: Hawke's Bay lock away Ranfurly Shield for summer after seeing off Waikato". Stuff NZ. 23 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
19. "Tasman stun Hawke's Bay in thrilling game to make it to NPC final". Stuff NZ. 13 November 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
20. "NPC: Hawke's Bay run riot in second half to overcome Manawatū". Stuff NZ. 30 October 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
21. @Hurricanesrugby (1 June 2017). "Congrats & good luck to the players in our Canes Development team to play Wanganui, Monday, June 5, Cooks Gardens. #futurecanes #CanesFamily" (Tweet). Retrieved 11 March 2022 – via Twitter.
22. "Jordie Barrett named in Hurricanes Development". Hurricanes (Press release). 23 February 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
23. "Hurricanes Hunters named to face Japan A in Tokyo". Hurricanes (Press release). 19 April 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
24. "Plus500 Brumbies strengthen back stocks with Sapsford signing" (Press release). Brumbies. 3 November 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
25. "Muirhead to bring up 50 caps for the Brumbies". Brumbies (Press release). 16 February 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
26. "Match centre: Brumbies v Rebels". SANZAAR. 2 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
27. "Tua, Sapsford re-sign Safeguard Global ACT Brumbies ahead of Semi Final". Brumbies (Press release). 13 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
28. "Sevens squads confirmed in the build up to Tokyo 2020". allblacks.com (Press release). 26 February 2020. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
29. "World Rugby update on COVID-19 response measures and statement from Sir Bill Beaumont". World Rugby (Press release). 21 March 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
30. "New Zealand awarded titles as HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 concluded". World Rugby (Press release). 30 June 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
31. "Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games rugby sevens schedule confirmed". World Rugby (Press release). 17 July 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
32. "Three uncapped players join sevens squads". allblacks.com (Press release). 22 January 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
33. "Experienced rugby sevens teams named for Tokyo Olympic Games". allblacks.com (Press release). 2 July 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
34. Johnston, Patrick (12 August 2021). "Rugby: COVID-19 keeping leading teams away from 2021 Canada Sevens". The Province. Archived from the original on 12 August 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
35. "Trans-Tasman Sevens comes to Auckland". allblacks.com (Press release). 17 May 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
36. "Foley set for final World Cup audition as stacked Australia A side confirmed for Tonga clash". Wallabies (Press release). 5 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
37. "Match centre: Tour match – Tonga vs Australia A". rugby.com.au. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
38. "Wallabies and Australia XV squads confirmed for November Tours". wallabies.rugby. 22 October 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2024.

External links

• NZ Rugby History profile
• Ollie Sapsford at All.Rugby
• Ollie Sapsford at ItsRugby.co.uk

• 1995 births
• Living people
• People educated at Ashburton College
• New Zealand rugby union players
• New Zealand male rugby sevens players
• Rugby union centres
• Rugby union wings
• Hawke's Bay rugby union players
• ACT Brumbies players
• 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen