Sean Maitland

Sean Daniel Maitland (born 14 September 1988) is a retired New Zealand-born Scottish rugby union player. He last played for Saracens in the Premiership Rugby. He previously played for London Irish and before that for Glasgow Warriors in the PRO12, Crusaders in Super Rugby and Canterbury in the Mitre 10 Cup. His regular playing positions were Wing and Full back.

Early life

Maitland was born in Tokoroa, New Zealand, on 14 September 1988. He attended Hamilton Boys' High School where he played in the first XV and competed in athletics, recording a personal best of 11.29 and 22.30 seconds for the 100m and 200m respectively, and threw the discus 45.47m. Maitland is half-Scottish and is of Samoan and Maori descent from his mother's side. He is the cousin of New Zealand born, Australian rugby union player Quade Cooper.^[1] Maitland and cousin Cooper also grew up with future Kiwi Rugby League international Isaac John.

Club career

Maitland spent 2005 and 2006 in the New Zealand Schools team and was a member of New Zealand under-19 World Cup winning side in 2007 and the New Zealand under-20 side in 2008 winning the IRB Junior World Championship. Sean scored four tries against teams from Argentina, Ireland and Wales. One of his teammates was John Hardie who he would go on to play with in the Scotland Rugby Team.

Maitland debuted for Canterbury in 2006, and made his Super Rugby debut for the Crusaders against the ACT Brumbies in 2008 and played in every Crusaders match that year. In 2010, he was selected for the New Zealand Maori where he impressed, scoring a try against Ireland.^[2] On 11 March 2011 he scored four tries in a game against the Brumbies, equaling the record for the most tries scored in a Super Rugby match.^[3] Maitland joined Glasgow Warriors in 2012, and won his first cap for Scotland at the start of the 2013 Six Nations Championship.^[4] After 3 years playing for Glasgow Warriors, Maitland moved to London Irish, and in 2016 to Saracens.^[5] During his time at Saracens he won three Premiership titles in 2018, 2019 and 2023, scoring a try in the 2019 final.^[6][7][8] He also helped Saracens win the European Champions Cup in 2019, scoring a try in the final.^[9] He had previously missed Saracens' victory in the 2017 European Champions Cup final through injury.^[10]

International career

On 30 April 2013, Maitland was announced in the British and Irish Lions squad for the tour of Australia later that year. The tour marked a possible first encounter with cousin Quade Cooper in the test arena, having played one another before at Super Rugby level. The two never met in-game as Cooper was controversially left out of the extended Wallaby squad for the series, and Maitland never took to the field in the one test that he was on the bench. Maitland was not selected in the team to play the Queensland Reds mid-week game, in which Cooper captained the Reds for the first time. The two would go on to play against each other in November 2013, when Scotland lost to Australia in the end-of-year-internationals

Maitland played in the Rugby World Cup 2015, in which Scotland reached the quarter-finals. He was controversially sin binned for a supposed deliberate knock-on in the quarter-finals. Scotland eventually went on to lose the match 35–34, ending their Rugby World Cup.

Personal life

Maitland qualifies for Scotland by his Glaswegian grandparents who emigrated to New Zealand in the 1960s. Maitland said "My granddad always reminded me that I was part Scottish and that I should never forget that."^[11]

On Maitland's maternal grandfather's side, Sean is also closely related to 'Smoking Joe' Stanley of New Zealand All Black fame in the mid 1980s–1990 on his Samoan side.^{[citation needed]} In 2009, Maitland was a finalist in the Cleo New Zealand Bachelor of the Year competition.^[12]

In November 2013, Maitland and three other Scottish rugby players were charged with assault following an incident outside a Glasgow takeaway shop in August,^[13] although these were ultimately dropped and Maitland faced no further action.

In October 2020 Maitland was charged by the RFU for “conduct prejudicial to the interests of the Union” for breaking COVID-19 regulations whilst on duty with the Barbarians.^[14]

International tries

^[15]

References

1. ^ Morton, Jim (4 July 2011). "Quade Cooper to play cousin Sean Maitland". theroar.com.au. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
2. ^ "New Zealand Maori celebrate centenary with victory over Ireland". The Guardian. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
3. ^ "Crusaders – Sean Maitland". Retrieved 11 May 2011.
4. ^ "Sean Maitland". Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
5. ^ "Sean Maitland". Retrieved 20 April 2018.
6. ^ "Premiership final: Exeter Chiefs 10-27 Saracens". BBC. 26 May 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
7. ^ "Premiership final: Exeter Chiefs 34-37 Saracens". BBC. 1 June 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
8. ^ "Premiership final: Saracens 35-25 Sale - Sarries win sixth title in Twickenham thriller". BBC. 27 May 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
9. ^ "Leinster 10-20 Saracens: English side win third Champions Cup in Newcastle". BBC. 11 May 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
10. ^ "Sean Maitland: Saracens winger may miss Scotland's summer tour". BBC. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
11. ^ English, Tom (27 January 2013). "Six Nations: New Scot Sean Maitland keen to make big impact". The Scotsman. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
12. ^ "CLEO Bachelors 09". Retrieved 30 April 2013.
13. ^ By Sean Maitland among Scotland players due in court over assault 3 News NZ. 15 November 2013.
14. ^ "Sean Maitland and Tim Swinson among 13 banned for Barbarians pub trip Covid breaches | The Scotsman"
15. ^ "Sean Maitland". ESPN. Archived from the original on 15 March 2022. Retrieved 15 March 2022.