Mitchell Graham (born 30 January 1991) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a prop for Taranaki in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup and the Chiefs in the international Super Rugby competition.[1][2][3][4][5]
Born in the rural Waikato town of Matamata, he was educated at St Peter's School, Cambridge where he played first XV rugby. During his high school years, he represented Waikato at under-16 level before moving to Christchurch to study chemical engineering at the University of Canterbury. While in Christchurch, Graham represented Canterbury at under-18 and under-21 level.[5][6]
Graham made one appearance for Canterbury in 2013 while still studying at university before heading north to join the Taranaki Bulls after graduation.
The move to Taranaki immediately played off as he started all 12 of their games during the 2014 season which culminated in them lifting the ITM Cup Premiership title with a 36–32 victory over Tasman in the final. He was again an ever present in the number 1 jersey through 2015 with the Bulls this time faltering at the semi-final stage. He took his run of consecutive starts in a Taranaki jersey to 34 in 2016 with his side again reaching the competition's semi-finals before they went down to Tasman.[2]
Graham's form in the loosehead prop position during Taranaki's 2014 title winning season brought him to the attention of Hamilton-based Super Rugby franchise, the Chiefs, who named him as a member of their squad for the 2015 Super Rugby season.[7] Competing against Jamie Mackintosh and Pauliasi Manu for the number 1 jersey, Graham made an impressive 10 appearances during his debut season in Super Rugby. He remained a member of the squad through 2016 and with Manu missing the majority of the campaign through injury, Graham was able to establish himself as the Chiefs first-choice loosehead prop, playing 14 times and scoring 1 try.[2] He was again named in the Chiefs squad for the 2017 Super Rugby season.[4]
Playing for the Chiefs in the 2017 Brisbane Tens Graham fractured the tibia and fibula in his left leg, in a potentially career-ending injury.[8]
| Season | Team | Games | Starts | Sub | Mins | Tries | Cons | Pens | Drops | Points | Yel | Red |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITM Cup / Mitre 10 Cup | ||||||||||||
| 2013 | Canterbury | 1 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | Taranaki | 12 | 12 | 0 | 778 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | Taranaki | 11 | 11 | 0 | 735 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2016 | Taranaki | 11 | 11 | 0 | 788 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | Taranaki | 10 | 10 | 0 | 677 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Super Rugby | ||||||||||||
| 2015 | Chiefs | 10 | 5 | 5 | 431 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | Chiefs | 14 | 10 | 4 | 737 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 24 | 15 | 9 | 1168 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | |
