Name Ryan Shortland Role Rugby player | Height 1.85 m Weight 94 kg | |
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Ryan Shortland (born 27 January 1986 in Masterton, New Zealand) is a rugby union player who currently plays for the Newcastle Falcons in the Aviva Premiership. Before switching to rugby union, he previously played rugby league in the NRL.
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Rugby league
Of Māori heritage, Shortland was born in Masterton but grew up in Australia. Shortland started playing rugby league for the Coogee Wombats in Sydney.
Shortland signed with the Melbourne Storm and was sent by the Storm to play in the Queensland Cup with the Norths Devils.
He played one first grade game for the club in Round Two of 2007. A knee ligament injury playing for Brisbane Norths in the Queensland Cup ended Shortland's year soon after.
Shortland signed a one-year contract with the Warriors for the 2008 season. However he could not break into first grade, being stuck behind international centres Brent Tate and Jerome Ropati. As a result, he was not re-signed for the 2009 season.
Rugby union
After being released by the Warriors Shortland set his sights on a career in rugby union so he could stay in New Zealand. In late 2008 he played for the New Zealand Barbarians against the All Blacks in a warm up match before their Grand Slam tour. After talks with several rugby unions Shortland signed with the newly promoted Taieri in Otago and then made the Otago team for the 2009 Air New Zealand Cup.
Shortland got off to a promising start for Otago in the 2009 Air New Zealand Cup, scoring 3 tries in 10 appearances, and was included in the Highlanders wider training group for the 2010 Super 14 season. However, like the rest of his team, Shortland struggled in the 2010 ITM Cup, failing to score a try in 9 matches.
After leaving Otago, Shortland moved to England, where he plays for the Newcastle Falcons of the Aviva Premiership, having debuted in the 2011-12 season.