Christchurch born and educated, hooker Mark Hammett came to prominence early, playing for New Zealand Under 17 in 1989, captaining the Under 19 team in 1991 and appearing for New Zealand Colts in 1992-93. He made one appearance as a replacement for Canterbury in 1992 and showed promise in the seven games he played the following season.

Though he made 6 appearances for Canterbury during the 1994 domestic season most were as a replacement, with the very competent Matt Sexton preferred. However the hooking duties were shared between the two during Canterbury’s end of season nine match tour of England and Wales. The positions were reversed in 1995, with Hammett starting in 11 matches and Sexton in five. Hammett also played for a Canterbury XV against a N Z Supporters Clubs selection.

With rugby turning professional in 1996 Mark Hammett was a member of the 1^st Crusaders Super 12 side, though the performance of the 1996 team, two wins in eleven games, gave no indication of the success the franchise was to enjoy later. By and large though Sexton continued to receive more game time, both for the Crusaders and Canterbury. In 1997 it was Hammett used more than Sexton, but it was the latter who started the last three matches of both the Super 12 and NPC. Canterbury beat Counties Manukau in the 1997 NPC final, with Hammett coming on as a substitute.

With Sexton off the scene for most of the 1998 season Hammett started regularly for both the Crusaders and Canterbury. He was rewarded with a New Zealand trial, captaining his team, and an appearance for New Zealand “A” against Tonga. With injury curtailing the season for long time All Black backup hooker Norm Hewitt, Mark Hammett was then called into the All Black squad for five matches but did not take the field at any stage.

After a full Super 12 season for the Crusaders, who won the competition for the second successive year, Hammett made his All Black debut as a substitute against New Zealand “A” in 1999. With Anton Oliver now the first choice hooker he made two other appearances off the bench during the Tri-Nations, then won selection in the World Cup squad. Here he started a test for the first time, against Italy, and did so again in the third/fourth playoff match against South Africa.

Except for 2001 when injury limited him to just one appearance Hammett remained an All Black squad member until his retirement at the end of the 2003 season. With competition from Oliver, then Kevin Mealamu , Tom Willis and Corey Flynn many of his appearances were off the bench. He was the starting hooker against Tonga (2000), Ireland twice, Australia, South Africa (all 2002), South Africa and Canada (2003). His career finished with 30 appearances for New Zealand (29 tests), 76 for Canterbury and 81 for the Crusaders.

Solid rather than dynamic (despite scoring two tries in the 2003 Super 12 final) Hammett enjoyed considerable success in domestic rugby. He was part of Crusaders’ teams that won the Super 12 1998-2000 and 2002, the Canterbury NPC winning team of 1997, their Ranfurly Shield winning side of 1994 and with Shield defences 2000-03.

He remained involved in the game after retirement as technical advisor for the Crusaders, then was appointed their assistant coach for the 2007 season.

Profile by Bob Luxford
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Mark Garry Hammett

BORN

Thursday, 13 July 1972 in Christchurch

AGE

38

PHYSICAL

1.85m, 107kg

POSITION

Hooker

LAST SCHOOL

St Thomas of Canterbury College

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Christchurch Marist-Albion

PROVINCE

Canterbury

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Friday, 11 June 1999
v New Zealand 'A' at Christchurch
aged 26 years, 333 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 26 June 1999
v France at Wellington
aged 26 years, 348 days

LAST TEST

Thursday, 20 November 2003
v France at Sydney
aged 31 years, 130 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

29 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

1 (0 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

30 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

15pts (3t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

0pts

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

15pts (3t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

984

The All Black Games that Hammett played.
(+) = substitute; (-) = replaced

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1999

 11 Jun vs New Zealand 'A' at Christchurch 22-11 (+) 

 26 Jun vs France at Wellington 54-7 (+) 

 7 Aug vs South Africa at Pretoria 34-18 (+) 

 14 Oct vs Italy at Huddersfield 101-3  

 24 Oct vs Scotland at Edinburgh 30-18 (+) 

 4 Nov vs South Africa at Cardiff 18-22 (-) 

2000

 16 Jun vs Tonga at Albany 102-0 (-) 

 24 Jun vs Scotland at Dunedin 69-20 (+) 

 1 Jul vs Scotland at Auckland 48-14 (+) 

 15 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 39-35 (+) 

 22 Jul vs South Africa at Christchurch 25-12 (+) 

 5 Aug vs Australia at Wellington 23-24 (+) 

 19 Aug vs South Africa at Johannesburg 40-46 (+) 

 18 Nov vs France at Marseille 33-42 (+) 

 25 Nov vs Italy at Genova 56-19 (+) 

2001

 23 Jun vs Argentina at Christchurch 67-19 (+) 

2002

 8 Jun vs Italy at Hamilton 64-10 (+) 

 15 Jun vs Ireland at Dunedin 15-6  

 22 Jun vs Ireland at Auckland 40-8  

 13 Jul vs Australia at Christchurch 12-6  

 20 Jul vs South Africa at Wellington 41-20 (-) 

 10 Aug vs South Africa at Durban 30-23 (+) 

2003

 19 Jul vs South Africa at Pretoria 52-16 (+) 

 26 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 50-21 (+) 

 9 Aug vs South Africa at Dunedin 19-11 (-) 

 11 Oct vs Italy at Melbourne 70-7 (+) 

 17 Oct vs Canada at Melbourne 68-6 (-) 

 2 Nov vs Wales at Sydney 53-37 (+) 

 8 Nov vs South Africa at Melbourne 29-9 (+) 

 20 Nov vs France at Sydney 40-13 (+) 

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs Italy, 14 Oct 1999

1

-

-

-

5

vs Tonga, 16 Jun 2000

1

-

-

-

5

vs South Africa, 20 Jul 2002

1

-

-

-

5

Totals

3

0

0

0

15

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Argentina

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Australia

4

3

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

Canada

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

France

3

2

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

Ireland

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Italy

4

4

-

-

1

-

-

-

5

Scotland

3

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

South Africa

9

7

-

2

1

-

-

-

5

Tonga

1

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

5

Wales

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Totals

29

25

0

4

3

0

0

0

15