Sean Maitland

Sean Maitland

Sean Maitland
Full name	Sean Daniel Maitland
Date of birth	(1988-09-14) 14 September 1988
Place of birth	Tokoroa, New Zealand
Height	1.89 m (6 ft 2 1⁄2 in)
Weight	97 kg (15 st 4 lb)
School	Hamilton Boys High School
Notable relative(s)	Quade Cooper
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Wing / Fullback
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2012–2015 2015–2016 2016–	Glasgow London Irish Saracens	39 17 0	(50) (20) (0)
Provincial/State sides
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2006–2012	Canterbury	45	(100)
correct as of 24 August 2012.
Super Rugby
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2008–2012	Crusaders	54	(115)
correct as of 29 July 2012.
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2010 2013– 2013	Māori All Blacks Scotland British and Irish Lions	3 26	(0) (25)
correct as of 26 November 2016.

Sean Daniel Maitland (born 14 September 1988) is a New Zealand born Scottish rugby union player. He plays for Saracens in the English Premiership. He previously played for London Irish and before that for Glasgow Warriors in the PRO12, Crusaders in Super Rugby and Canterbury in the ITM Cup.

Early life

Sean Maitland was born in Tokoroa, New Zealand on 14 September 1988. Sean attended Hamilton Boys' High School where he played in the first XV and competed in athletics, recording a personal best of 11.29 and 22.30 seconds for the 100m and 200m respectively, and threw the discus 45.47m. Sean is half-Scottish and is of Samoan and Maori descent from his mother's side. He is the cousin of New Zealand born, Australian Rugby Union Player Quade Cooper.^[1]

Rugby career

Maitland spent 2005 and 2006 in the New Zealand Schools team and was a member of New Zealand under-19 World Cup winning side in 2007 and the New Zealand under-20 side in 2008 winning the IRB Junior World Championship. Sean scored four tries against teams from Argentina, Ireland and Wales. Maitland debuted for Canterbury in 2006, and made his Super Rugby debut for the Crusaders against the ACT Brumbies in 2008 and played in every Crusaders match that year. In 2010, he was selected for the New Zealand Maori where he impressed, scoring a try against Ireland.^[2] On 11 March 2011 he scored four tries in a game against the Brumbies, equaling the record for the most tries scored in a Super Rugby match.^[3] On 30 April 2013, Maitland was announced in the British and Irish Lions squad for the tour of Australia later that year. The tour marked a possible first encounter with cousin Quade Cooper in the test arena, having played one another before at Super Rugby level. The two never met in-game as Cooper was controversially left out of the extended Wallaby squad for the series, and Maitland never took to the field in the one test that he was on the bench. Maitland was not selected in the team to play the Queensland Reds mid-week game, in which Cooper captained the Reds for the first time.

Maitland played in the Rugby World Cup 2015, in which Scotland reached the quarter-finals. He was controversially sin binned for a supposed deliberate knock-on in the quarter-finals. Scotland eventually went on to lose the match 35–34, ending their Rugby World Cup.

Personal life

Maitland qualifies for Scotland by his Glaswegian grandparents who emigrated to New Zealand in the 1960s. Maitland said "My granddad always reminded me that I was part Scottish and that I should never forget that."^[4]

On his maternal grandfather's side, Sean is also closely related to 'Smoking Joe' Stanley of New Zealand All Black fame in the mid 1980s–1990 on his Samoan side. Maitland's father is fully Scottish.

In 2009, Maitland was a finalist in the Cleo New Zealand Bachelor of the Year competition.^[5]

In November 2013, Maitland and three other Scottish rugby players were charged with assault following an incident outside a Glasgow takeaway shop in August,^[6] although these were ultimately dropped and Maitland faced no further action.

References