M¯aori No 8 tipped for England
His father played for the Kiwis in a Rugby League World Cup final, but Zach Mercer is being tipped to make his rugby debut for England as a 20-year-old Six Nations rookie.
Mercer – who plays for ex-All Blacks captain Todd Blackadder at Bath – could be catapulted into Eddie Jones’ test team after injuries to experienced No 8s Billy Vunipola and Nathan Hughes.
The Daily Mail last year hailed England-born, Scotland-raised Mercer, saying: ‘‘There aren’t many Ma¯ori men who could scream the haka in a broad Yorkshire accent, kiss the red rose on their chest and then say: ‘‘I love the bagpipes – I still listen to them now even though I’m English. It gets me pumped’’. The former England under-20 captain is the son of former Kiwis back Gary Mercer, who played 15 years of professional rugby league in England.
Mercer sr – now a rugby union coach in Scotland – hailed from Bay of Plenty and played for New Zealand Ma¯ ori. He had 21 caps for the Kiwis between 1987 and 1993.
Mercer played fullback for the Kiwis in the
1988 Rugby League World Cup final defeat to Australia, watched by
47,363 fans at Auckland’s Eden Park.
He played in the north of England for Bradford Northern, Warrington Wolves, Leeds Rhinos, Halifax Blue Sox and Castleford Tigers clubs. After nine years with the Glasgow Warriors, Mercer sr is a regional academy coach with Scottish Rugby.
Zach Mercer was born in 1997, when his dad was on Leeds’ books, and grew up near Halifax.
Mercer, 1.90m tall and 105kg, told Rugby World magazine in a
2017 profile that he always been a rugby union player despite his father’s league links.
‘‘Dad actually pushed me towards union. I’ve never played a game of league.’’
When Mercer was eight, his father got a job as defence coach at the Glasgow Warriors rugby union club, so the family shifted to Scotland.
Zach Mercer later attended Merchiston College, an Edinburgh school with a noted rugby academy and qualified through residency rules to play for Scotland
under-16s.
But he pledged his international future to England, representing them at under-18 level and captaining them at last year’s
under-20 world championships in Romania where they lost the final,
64-17, to New Zealand.
‘‘I have always wanted to wear the Red Rose,’’ Mercer told Rugby
World, ‘‘so I had go go with my gut instinct and play for England.’’
Jones told England’s Sky Sport this week he thought Mercer was ready for a senior cap.
‘‘He’s done well for Bath and really toughened his game up.
‘‘