Jarrad Hoeata
| Birth name | Jarrad Hoeata | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 12 December 1983 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Tauranga, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 114 kg (17 st 13 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Tauranga Boys' College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Jarrad Hoeata (born 12 December 1983 in Tauranga, New Zealand) is a professional rugby union player who plays for the Highlanders in Super Rugby and represents Taranaki in the ITM Cup. Hoeata also represents New Zealand playing for the All-Blacks. He was selected for the 2011 Tri-Nations.
Playing career
Provincial Rugby
Hoeata was born Tauranga but moved to Christchurch to pursue a teaching degree, and moved through age group levels for Canterbury. He moved to Taranaki to get more playing time, and made his debut for that province in the 2006 Air New Zealand Cup.
After losing much of 2007 to a serious knee injury, Hoeata established himself as a regular started for the club in the 2008 Air New Zealand Cup, and made a further 12 starts in 2009 to earn himself a Super Rugby contract.
Hoeata's 2010 season started on a sour note with a drunk-driving arrest [1] but he rebounded with his strongest season for Taranaki in the 2010 ITM Cup, scoring two tries as the province was one of the surprises of the competition.
Super Rugby
While living in Canterbury, Hoeata was at one point a wider training group member of the Crusaders but never made the full squad.
Hoeata earned a spot with the Chiefs for the 2010 Super 14 season, and spent the season as a depth player on the squad, making 5 appearances but not starting a match.
When Jamie Joseph, who had previously coached Hoeata with the New Zealand Māori, offered Hoeata a chance to move south to join the Highlanders for the 2011 Super Rugby season, Hoeata jumped at the chance. While he played mainly at flanker with Taranaki, Joseph chose to use him as a lock and he developed into one of the form players of the competition, with his strong play keeping All Black Tom Donnelly on the substitute's bench.
An aggressive defender and strong tackler, Hoeata's game has been compared to that of Brad Thorn, and he has been mentioned as a potential successor to Thorn with the All Blacks.[2]
International
After a strong season with Taranaki, Hoeata was selected to the New Zealand Māori for their 2010 Centenary Series. Used as a lock by coach Jamie Joseph, he started all three games in the series and was one of the standouts in victories over Ireland and England.
Hoeata's strong performances with the Highlanders have seen him garner attention as a potential future All Black.[3]
Hoeata previously played rugby sevens for New Zealand during the 2006 season.
Named in 2011 tri-nations squad for the All Blacks. Hoeata made his New Zealand debut on 22 July 2011 against Fiji in a 60-14 victory.