Kayne Hammington

Kayne Hammington (born 24 September 1990) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a halfback for Manawatu in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup and the Highlanders in the international Super Rugby competition.[1][2][3][4]

Kayne Hammington

Full name	Kayne William Hammington
Date of birth	24 September 1990
Place of birth	Upper Hutt, New Zealand
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	75 kg (11 st 11 lb; 165 lb)
School	St. Patrick's College
Rugby union career
Position(s) Halfback Current team Manawatu, Highlanders Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 2012−2013 Wellington 9 (0) 2014− Manawatu 40 (15) 2015−2016 Chiefs 6 (0) 2017− Highlanders 37 (20) Correct as of 14 October 2018 National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 2010 New Zealand U20 5 (0) Correct as of 4 October 2015

Early career

Hammington was born in the town of Upper Hutt, which lies to the north-east of Wellington, New Zealand's capital city. He was educated at St. Patrick's College, Silverstream in his hometown.

Senior career

He started out in provincial rugby with his local side, the Wellington Lions and made 9 appearances across the 2012 and 2013 ITM Cup seasons. However, due to strong competition among the Lions halfbacks, he opted to head north for 2014 and join Manawatu. The move quickly paid off for both parties as Hammington played the season as the Turbos first choice half-back, featuring in 10 of their games in a season which saw them finish top of the ITM Cup Championship log with 8 wins in 10 games and earn promotion to the Premiership for 2015 with a 32-24 win over Hawke's Bay in the championship final.

Manawatu's stay in the Premiership would only last for 1 year, as a record of 3 wins from 10 games saw them relegated back down to the Championship for 2016. Hammington also found the going tougher in his second year in Palmerston North, starting just 3 times and generally playing back up to Jamie Booth throughout the year. 2016 didn't get much better, with the Turbos, now a championship side once more, finishing in 5th place on the log to miss out on the promotion playoffs altogether while Hammington had to make do with being part of a halfback rotation system along with Booth and the experienced Toby Morland, he played 6 times throughout the season, including 3 starts.[2]

Super Rugby

During the 2015 Super Rugby season, Hammington was called into the Chiefs squad as an injury replacement due to the absence of Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Augustine Pulu and Leon Fukofuka. He appeared on the bench once for the franchise's quarter final match away to the Highlanders, however he didn't get any game time.[5] It was a case of déjà vu in 2016 as another halfback injury crisis at the Chiefs saw Hammington once more brought in as injury cover. This time, however, Hammington did manage to get on the field, debuting as a second-half replacement in the 53-10 demolition of the Force on 25 March and going on to make a total of 5 appearances throughout the year.[2][6]

In October 2016, it was announced that Hammington had earned his first full-time Super Rugby contract with the 2015 champions, the Highlanders. He would join fellow Manawatu Turbo Aaron Smith and young Otago halfback Josh Renton in competition for the number 9 jersey in Tony Brown's side.[4][7]

International

Hammington was a member of the New Zealand Under-20 side which won the 2010 IRB Junior World Championship in Argentina, playing 5 times.[8][9]

Career Honours

New Zealand Under-20

• IRB Junior World Championship - 2010 IRB Junior World Championship

North Harbour

• ITM Cup Championship - 2014

Super Rugby Statistics

As of 4 January 2017[2]

Season	Team	Games	Starts	Sub	Mins	Tries	Cons	Pens	Drops	Points	Yel	Red
2015	Chiefs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2016	Chiefs	5	0	5	61	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total		5	0	5	61	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

References

1. "Kayne Hammington Manwatu Turbos Player Profile". Turbos Rugby. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
2. "Kayne Hammington itsrugby.co.uk Player Statistics". itsrugby.co.uk. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
3. "Kayne Hammington Highlanders Player Profile". Highlanders Rugby. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
4. "Highlanders 2017 Squad Guide" (PDF). All Blacks.com. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
5. "Halfback Hammington thrust into the big time with the Chiefs". Stuff.co.nz. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
6. "Manawatu halfback Kayne Hammington eyeing up second time lucky for Chiefs". Rugby Heaven. 24 March 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
7. "Highlanders sign Manawatu halfback Kayne Hammington for 2017". Rugby Heaven. 19 October 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
8. "New Zealand Under 20 squad named". All Blacks.com. 29 April 2010. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
9. "Kayne Hammington New Zealand U20 Player Profile". All Blacks.com. Retrieved 4 January 2017.