Luke Whitelock

Luke Whitelock
Full name Luke Charles Whitelock
Date of birth (1991-01-29) 29 January 1991
Place of birth Palmerston North, New Zealand
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight 116 kg (18 st 4 lb; 256 lb)
School Feilding High School
University University of Canterbury
Notable relative(s) Ben Funnell (cousin)
Adam Whitelock
George Whitelock
Sam Whitelock (brothers)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Lock, Flanker, Number 8
Current team Canterbury, Highlanders
All Black No. 1129
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2011– Canterbury 63 (45)
2012–2015 Crusaders 51 (15)
2016– Highlanders 35 (15)
Correct as of 20 May 2018
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
2010–2011 New Zealand U20 9 (5)
2013–2017 Barbarian F.C. 4 (0)
2015 World XV 1 (0)
2013, 2017– New Zealand 6 (0)
Correct as of 10 September 2018

Luke Charles Whitelock (born 29 January 1991) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a loose forward for Canterbury in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup and the Highlanders in the international Super Rugby competition.[1][2][3][4]

Early career

Born in Palmerston North and raised on a dairy farm in the suburb of Linton, 11 km south-west of the city, Luke was born into a rugby household with his grandfather being 1950's All Black, Nelson Dalzell, father Braeden being a former Manawatu and New Zealand Colts representative and 3 older brothers; George, Adam and Sam all going on to play for Canterbury and the Crusaders with George and Sam also becoming All Blacks.

After attending a local primary school, Whitelock was sent to Feilding High School as a boarder and while there played first XV rugby, captaining the side in his final year. Following his graduation from high school, he moved south to attend university in Christchurch and began playing local club rugby for the University of Canterbury.[1][5][6] He was also took a gap year at Loughborough Grammar School for a year.

Senior career

Whitelock first made the Canterbury squad at the age of 20 ahead of the 2011 ITM Cup and went on to play 4 times during his first season of provincial rugby, earning his first ITM Cup Premiership winners medal as his side defeated Waikato 12-3 in the final. The following year, having gained some Super Rugby experience with the Crusaders, he became much more of a regular in Canterbury's starting XV, this time featuring 9 times and scoring his first ever provincial try as the men in red and black retained their ITM Cup title, this time overcoming Auckland 31-18 in the final.

2013 saw him win his 3rd ITM Cup in 3 years as Canterbury finished 2nd behind Wellington on the Premiership log, but were able to overcome the Lions 29-13 in the final. Whitelock scored 3 tries in 10 games to help Canterbury lift their 6th ITM Cup in a row. However, they were unable to hold on to their title in 2014, going down to local rivals, Tasman in the semi-final with Whitelock featuring in all 11 of their games during the year.

Ahead of the 2015 ITM Cup, he was named as Canterbury captain, following in the footsteps of older brother, George, who led the Cantabrians to five successive national titles between 2009 and 2013. Luke's captaincy got off to the perfect start as Canterbury went through the regular season with a record of 9 wins and 1 loss and after defeating Taranaki and Auckland in the playoffs they were crowned ITM Cup champions once again. It was a title they held onto in 2016, with the competition renamed the Mitre 10 Cup, but Whitelock still captaining a star-studded Canterbury side, they once again finished top of the Premiership log and after overpowering Counties Manukau in the semi-finals they gained revenge on Tasman for their 2013 semi-final loss by defeating them 43-27 in the final, making it 8 championships in 9 years.[1][2]

Super Rugby

Impressive displays in his debut season for Canterbury in 2011 saw Luke become the fourth Whitelock in the Crusaders Super Rugby squad for the 2012 season. Despite fierce competition for places among the franchise's loose forwards, he was able to get plenty of game time in his first season at Super Rugby level, playing mostly off of the replacements bench, he featured 10 times as the Crusaders, beaten finalists in 2011 made it to the competition semi-finals before going down 20-17 to New Zealand rivals and eventual winners the Chiefs.

In 2013, he played in all 18 of the Crusaders matches as they were once again eliminated at the semi-final stage by the Chiefs who went on to defend their title by defeating the Brumbies in the final. While in 2014 despite competing for a starting place with the likes of; Richie McCaw, Kieran Read and Jordan Taufua, Whitelock started a then career high 10 times and scored 2 tries to help the Crusaders make the Super Rugby final where they narrowly went down to the Waratahs in Sydney, losing 33-32.

2015 would prove to be his final year with the Crusaders and it would also be his least productive with the franchise, starting just twice out of a total of 8 appearances as the men from Christchurch endured a disappointing campaign and finished in 7th place, just missing out on the playoffs. The Highlanders were the competition's form team in 2015, defeating the Hurricanes 21-14 in the final and to bolster their squad ahead of their title defense in 2016, they announced that Whitelock would be moving south to join them ahead of the 2016 season.[7] He started 12 times in his first season in Dunedin as his new franchise failed to retain their Super Rugby title, bowing out 42-30 to the Lions in the semi-finals.[2]

International

Whitelock was a New Zealand Schools representative in 2008 and was also a member of the New Zealand Under−20 sides which lifted the IRB Junior World Championship in 2010 and 2011, captaining the side in 2011 and playing a total of 9 games across both tournaments.[8][9][10]

He earned his first call up to the senior New Zealand side ahead of the 2013 end-of-year rugby union internationals and debuted as a second-half replacement for Dominic Bird in a 54-6 victory over Japan in Tokyo.[11][12]

On 5 November 2016, Whitelock featured in the number 8 jersey for the Barbarians in their 31-31 draw against South Africa at Wembley Stadium. He played all 80 minutes in a side which contained former Crusaders teammates Jordan Taufua and Andrew Ellis.[13][14]

Whitelock was selected for the Barbarians again in 2017, starting for them against the All Blacks. Following the fixture, Whitelock was called into the All Blacks squad as injury cover for 81-test veteran Jerome Kaino who was injured against the Barbarians by coincidence. Whitelock was named to captain the All Blacks against a French XV in only his second appearance in a black jersey the following week, playing the full 80 minutes of the match. Whitelock went on to start at number 8 in the test against Wales on the tour as well, starting alongside his older brother, with Sam captaining the All Blacks against Wales.

Career Honours

New Zealand Under-20

Canterbury

Super Rugby statistics

As of 11 January 2017[2]
SeasonTeamGamesStartsSubMinsTriesConsPensDropsPointsYelRed
2012 Crusaders10282590000000
2013 Crusaders187117341000500
2014 Crusaders1410484120001000
2015 Crusaders8262420000000
2016 Highlanders121208350000000
Total623329291130001500

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Luke Whitelock Canterbury Player Profile". Canterbury Rugby. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Luke Whitelock itsrugby.co.uk Player Statistics". itsrugby.co.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  3. ↑ "Luke Whitelock Highlanders Player Profile". Highlanders Rugby. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  4. ↑ "Highlanders 2017 Squad Guide" (PDF). All Blacks.com. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  5. ↑ "Cousin joins clan in red and black". Rugby Heaven. 4 August 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  6. ↑ "Twelve Questions: Caroline Whitelock". New Zealand Herald. 24 October 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  7. ↑ "Highlanders announce loose forward acquisitions for 2016". Highlanders Rugby. 24 October 2013.
  8. ↑ "New Zealand schools side named". Rugby Heaven. 10 September 2008. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  9. ↑ "New Zealand Under 20 squad named 2010". All Blacks. 29 April 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  10. ↑ "New Zealand Under 20 squad named 2011". All Blacks. 29 April 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  11. ↑ "Luke Whitelock All Blacks Player Profile". All Blacks. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  12. ↑ "Luke Whitelock ESPN Scrum Player Profile". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  13. ↑ "Former All Black Andy Ellis to skipper Barbarians against Springboks". Rugby Heaven. 3 November 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  14. ↑ "Late van Rensburg try saves South Africa blushes". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
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