Oriental-Rongotai: Mark Reddish

Mark Reddish in action for Ories in July 2012.

Mark Reddish made 10 appearances for the Hurricanes in 2011 and several more in 2012.

Reddish had previously proved himself as one of the Vodafone Wellington Lions’ leading lights through his high workrate and broad skills as a former openside flanker.

He first played for the Wellington Lions in 2009 in a Ranfurly Shield defence match against Wairarapa-Bush in Masterton, scoring a try in a Wellington record 90-19 win. He started his first NPC match a few weeks later in a 16-15 Ranfurly Shield defence against Auckland, making 12 appearances for the Lions in all in his rookie season for the Lions.

Reddish first made his Premier debut for Ories in his first year out of the Rongotai College first XV in 2003. That was the year that Ories last made the Jubilee Cup before this season, with Reddish breaking into the side for the second half of the season after impressing for the Senior 1sts during the first round as a blindside flanker.

He then played a representative season for the Wellington U19s before heading to Singapore with the Ories Sevens team at the end of that year. But on that trip he badly broke his leg and spent a week in hospital before being flown back to New Zealand and forced to spend the Christmas and New Year in plaster. This injury kept him out of all club rugby in 2004, making his return to play a second season with the Wellington Colts in the Spring.

But from 2005 until present he has been a regular member of the Ories Premier side, playing mostly at lock but the occasional game at flanker, has captained the side at various intervals and has played approximately 80 games all up. In that time, Reddish spent two seasons in the Wellington Colts in 2005 and 2006, and was a member of the Wellington Rugby Academy in 2006. He has also had two stints playing overseas in the off-season, spending the 2005/06 New Zealand summer playing in Montpellier in France and 2006/07 in Hong Kong.

Reddish spent three seasons in the Rongotai College First XV as an openside flanker, playing alongside Ma'a Nonu in his first year in the team and captaining it in his last year.