Nick Grigg

Nick Grigg (born 18 September 1992) is a rugby union player, who currently plays as a midfield back for Hawke's Bay in New Zealand's domestic National Provincial Championship competition.[1] He previously played for Red Hurricanes Osaka in Japan, Glasgow Warriors in Scotland[2] and US Carcassonne in France. Grigg was born and raised in New Zealand, but has represented Scotland – for which he is eligible due to his Scottish heritage – both in the fifteen-a-side form of the game and rugby sevens.

Nick Grigg
Birth nameNicholas Grigg
Date of birth (1992-09-18) 18 September 1992
Place of birthWellington, New Zealand
Height175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight90 kg (14 st 2 lb; 200 lb)
SchoolNewlands College
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre
Current team Hawke's Bay
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
Petone Rugby Club ()
2015–2018 Stirling County ()
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2015–2021 Glasgow Warriors 95 (100)
2022 Red Hurricanes Osaka 5 (5)
2022– Hawke's Bay 20 (5)
2022 US Carcassonne 14 (10)
Correct as of 21 October 2023
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2017–2019 Scotland 9 (0)
Correct as of 5 November 2022
National sevens team(s)
Years Team Comps
2016 Scotland 7s 11 (5)

Rugby union career

Amateur career

He previously played for Petone and for the under-20 Wellington side in New Zealand.[3]

When not playing for Glasgow Warriors, Grigg plays for Stirling County.[4]

Grigg has been drafted to Stirling County in the Scottish Premiership for the 2017–18 season.[5]

Professional career

He was part of the Hurricanes Development XV in New Zealand.[6]

Grigg trialled with the Warriors in March 2015 before signing for Glasgow Warriors and securing a place at the Scottish Rugby Academy for Glasgow District[7] as a Stage 3 player. Membership of the academy is restricted to Scottish-Qualified players. Stage 3 players are aligned to a professional club and given regional support.[8]

He has played for Glasgow Warriors in their pre-season match against Clermont.[9] The Warriors lost the match 28–10.

He also featured in an early season friendly against the British Army Rugby Union side.[10] Glasgow Warriors beat the Army side 71–0.

He started in the derby match against Edinburgh in an 'A' match at Broadwood Stadium. Glasgow Warriors beat Edinburgh, 26–5.[11] He made his competitive debut for the Glasgow side on 18 March 2016 against Leinster at Scotstoun Stadium in the Pro12 in a 12 - 6 victory for the Scottish side.[12] He became Glasgow Warrior No. 262.

He graduated from the Scottish Rugby Academy and signed a professional contract with Glasgow Warriors on 23 March 2016.[13]

He was named in the Pro14 dream team for the 2017–18 season.[14]

He made 95 appearances for the Warriors, scoring 20 tries for the side.[15]

It was announced in December 2021 that Grigg would join Japanese side Osaka Red Hurricanes in 2022.[2] Grigg said that playing for Glasgow Warriors had much improved his life, although the move from New Zealand had been scary, and praised the players, the people and the culture. He said he was sad to leave Glasgow, but looked forward to the new opportunity for a fresh start. Japan was a new culture to experience, and closer to his home and family than Scotland.[16]

On 29 July 2022, Grigg was named in the Hawke's Bay squad for the 2022 Bunnings NPC season.[17] He made his debut for the province on 6 August 2022 against Waikato.[18]

On 6 October 2022, it was announced that Grigg signed an injury replacement contract with French side US Carcassonne to play in the Pro D2, where he joined with fellow ex-Scotland international and ex-Glasgow Warrior Rob Harley.[19] He made his debut for Carcassonne on 7 October 2022 against Massy.[20]

Grigg returned to Hawke's Bay for the 2023 season[1] and scored his first try for the province on 15 September 2023 in a 57–7 win over Manawatu.[21]

International career

He is Scottish-qualified as his grandfather is from Ayrshire in Scotland.[13]

On 25 January 2016, Grigg was named in the Scotland Sevens squad for the upcoming Wellington Sevens tournament.[22] He made his international debut in the tournament, confirming his Scottish nationality, on 30 January 2016. He played against South Africa, coming off the bench for his debut.

Grigg made his international XV debut for Scotland against Fiji on 24 June 2017 (3.30am BST).[23]

References
  1. "2023 Magpies squad release". Hawke's Bay Rugby Union. 5 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  2. Barnes, David (22 December 2021). "Nick Grigg to leave Glasgow Warriors to take up deal in Japan". The Offside Line.
  3. "Glasgow Warriors - Nick Grigg". glasgowwarriors.com.
  4. "Glasgow Warriors - Two tries for Nick Grigg in big County win". glasgowwarriors.com.
  5. "News". Archived from the original on 30 August 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  6. "Elevate+ Player Spotlight: Nick Grigg Petone". Club Rugby.
  7. "Petone Rugby".
  8. "BT Sport Scottish Rugby Academies". Archived from the original on 8 July 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  9. "Townsend pleased despite Clermont defeat".
  10. "Warriors overcome Army in friendly".
  11. "Glasgow Warriors 'A' triumph in derby".
  12. "Glasgow Warriors | Glasgow Warriors v Leinster". www.glasgowwarriors.com.
  13. "Academy trio sign Glasgow Warriors contracts".
  14. @GlasgowWarriors (20 August 2018). "Congratulations to Callum Gibbins and Nick Grigg who have been named in the @PRO14Official Dream Team for 2017/18!…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  15. "Nick Grigg". Glasgow Warriors.
  16. Rugby, Planet (22 December 2021). "Nick Grigg swaps Glasgow Warriors for Japanese club".
  17. "Magpies 2022 squad announced". Hawke's Bay Rugby Union (Press release). 29 July 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  18. "Hawke's Bay Magpies poised for NPC season 'legacy'". Hawke's Bay Today. 5 August 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  19. "Du renfort au centre: Nicholas Grigg est Carcassonnais!" [Reinforcement in the midfield: Nicholas Grigg is Carcassonnais!] (Press release) (in French). US Carcassonne. 6 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  20. "[Carcassonne-Massy] La composition de votre équipe" (Press release) (in French). US Carcassonne. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  21. "Brad Weber scores double in Hawke's Bay's 57-7 thrashing of Manawatū". Stuff New Zealand. 15 September 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  22. "Two debutants named for Wellington 7s". Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  23. "As it happened - Scotland lose to Fiji". BBC Sport. 22 June 2017.
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