Mitchell Drummond

Early career

Born and raised in Nelson on New Zealand's South Island, Drummond went on to attend Nelson College in his hometown where he captained their rugby first XV. During his high school years, he represented his province at both rugby and cricket before focusing solely on rugby after graduation. After many years in the Tasman youth structures, he moved to Christchurch and joined the Canterbury Rugby Academy in 2013.

Senior career

Drummond was first named named in Canterbury's 2013 ITM Cup squad where the then 19-year old largely served as back-up to the more experienced Andy Ellis and Willi Heinz. He managed only 1 appearance during the campaign, as a substitute against Manawatu, however Ellis' departure for Japan in 2014 saw him get far more game time in rotation with Heinz. He played 10 games during the season, 5 of which came from the start and netted 7 points as Canterbury were disappointingly knocked out out in the ITM Cup semi-finals by local rivals, Tasman.

Willi Heinz's departure for Gloucester in 2015, left the 21-year old Drummond as Canterbury's undisputed first choice in the number 9 jersey. He went on to play all 12 of Canterbury's games during their 2015 title winning season which culminated with a 25-23 victory over Auckland in the final. 2016 saw a reversal of fortunes for him as a broken leg picked up in training resulted in him playing only the first three games of the year as his side marched to their 8th provincial title in 9 seasons.

Super Rugby

After just one provincial appearance for Canterbury, Drummond was selected in the Crusaders squad ahead of the 2014 season. Unsurprisingly, his first season at Super Rugby level saw him sit behind his experienced Canterbury teammates, Ellis and Heinz, in the queue for the starting halfback role and like his debut provincial season, he had to make do with a solitary substitute appearance, this time against the Melbourne Rebels.

Building on from his learning experiences in 2014, Drummond was far more of a regular in 2015. Willi Heinz was ruled out of the entire season through injury and Drummond largely served as back up to Andy Ellis, playing 15 times, including 7 starts and scoring 2 tries as the Crusaders finished in 7th place on the log, just outside the play off places. 2016 again saw him act as back up to the experienced Ellis, who was in his final season with the franchise. Drummond scored an impressive 4 tries in 13 games of which he started 5 as the Crusaders reached the competition's quarter-finals before losing out 42-25 to the Lions in Johannesburg. He was retained in the squad for the 2017 season where he would face competition from new-arrival from the Blues, Bryn Hall for a place in the starting XV.

International

Drummond made the New Zealand Barbarians secondary schools team in 2012 and was also a member of the New Zealand Under-20 which finished 3rd in the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship in his home country, scoring 2 tries in 4 matches during the tournament.

Career Honours

Canterbury

Super Rugby Statistics