Warwick Lahmert

Warwick Harley Lahmert (born 27 January 1987) is an English rugby union player. He plays in the scrum-half positions for amateur club Horowhenua-Kapiti and England's national sevens team.^[1][2]

Early life

Lahmert was born on 27 January 1987, in Waikanae, Kapiti Coast, New Zealand to parents, Suzanne Lord and Dean Lahmert.^[3] He is one of nine siblings (Aaron, Ethan, Hagen, Mia, Sam, Tristan, Charley and Cole), with Aaron representing Horowhenua-Kapiti in the New Zealand amateur Heartland Championship competition.^[4] Lahmert started playing rugby when he was five at the Waikanae Rugby Club, working his way through the grades until he attended Paraparaumu College. At college he was too small to make the first XV, and had to settle for a spot in the second XV. After college he moved into the Waikanae senior team, before playing sevens for Horowhenua-Kapiti at the national tournament.^[5] Lahmerts partner, Brigitte Tyler is a rugby referee, who refereed on the HSBC woman's sevens series

Rugby union career

Club

Lahmert had moved from Kapiti Coast to Taranaki in 2011 where he played 15-a-side as well as sevens.^[6] He shifted in time for the 2011 nationals in Queenstown and had been an integral part of the sevens program which included second place, victory at the North Island provincials.^[7] His Taranaki team also won the national title in the abbreviated game in 2013 and the following year under his captaincy was beaten by eventual champions Wellington.^[8] In the longer format, he made his ITM Cup debut in 2014 and his side, Taranaki, won the tournament for the first time.^[9] He recorded four appearances off the bench against, Counties Manukau, Hawke's Bay, Bay of Plenty and Southland.

In 2016, Lahmert returned to New Zealand for the sevens off season after missing out on the Great Britain squad for the Rio Olympics. He went close to making the sevens side, but unfortunately missed out.^[10] With his contract expired in late August, he had been given permission by England coach Simon Amor to turn his attention to fifteens whilst in New Zealand. That meant a return to Horowhenua Kapiti, a side he had played two Heartland Championship seasons for in the past.^[11] Playing at second five-eighth in his previous stint for the club, Lahmert mainly featured in the fly-half position. He also played alongside his younger brother, Aaron.^[12]

Rugby sevens

Lahmert made his All Blacks Sevens debut at Skilled Park, as he lined-up for New Zealand in the first round of the 2012/13 HSBC Sevens World Series in the Gold Coast. The then 24-year-old came through a series of trial camps to make the 12-man squad, having missed out the previous year on the team at the final stage.^[5] He continued to rise up in the national sevens ranks after being included in the next two legs of the world series in Dubai and South Africa.^[13]

Lahmert then made a decision to buy out his low-key contract in England with club Birmingham & Solihull, after he changed his mind when New Zealand sevens coach Gordon Tietjens encouraged him to come back to New Zealand and attend some training camps to secure him one of sixteen New Zealand sevens contracts. However his club was not over the moon about the idea and wanted compensation, which he paid, and then he returned from England.^[14]

In his time with the New Zealand team, he had not played England, but helped the side to victory in the London tournament in 2013, scoring a try in the 47-12 victory over Australia in the final.^[6]

A switch of allegiance from New Zealand to England prompted Warwick Lahmert to play in the HSBC World Series tournaments in Wellington and Las Vegas in February 2015 before appearing at Glasgow and Twickenham that May.^[15] Half English, he qualifies through his mother, having figured in five events for the All Blacks Sevens in 2012/13 before dropping out of the squad.^[6] His maiden try was in the Cup quarter-final against South Africa in Las Vegas and he added a second against New Zealand, his former team, in the 21-17 Cup quarter-final win in London.

His fifth appearance in the Cape Town tournament in December 2015 produced his third try – England’s first in the opening match against Kenya.^[16] He also appeared in the Wellington tournament January 2016, in Sydney the following month. In May 2016, Lahmert was included in the 25-strong Great Britain training squad for the forthcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Later that month, he captained the England team on the first day of the Paris event before being injured.^[17]

Boxing career

Amateur

With the old rugby union and rugby league rivalry still continuing, Lahmert fought in a union versus league corporate bout between fellow New Zealander Trent Berge on the undercard of the Sam Rapira versus Richard Hackney New Zealand National Boxing Federation light heavyweight title fight on September 12, 2014 in New Plymouth, New Zealand's TSB Stadium.^[18] He beat Berge by unanimous decision.^[19]

Record

• Defeated Trent Berge (New Zealand) PTS

Statistics

Updated: 12 July 2016

References

External links

• Warwick Lahmert at All Blacks.com
• Warwick Lahmert at It'sRugby.co.uk