Harrison Hansen

Harrison Luther Mata'afa Hansen (born 26 October 1985) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a second-row and loose forward for Toulouse Olympique in the Betfred Championship. He has played for Samoa and New Zealand at international level.

Harrison Hansen
Personal information
Full nameHarrison Luther Mata'afa Hansen[1]
Born (1985-10-26) 26 October 1985
Auckland, New Zealand
Height186 cm (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Weight112 kg (17 st 9 lb)[2]
Playing information
PositionSecond-row, Loose forward
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2004–13 Wigan Warriors 243 43 0 0 172
2014–15 Salford Red Devils 52 9 0 0 36
2016–18 Leigh Centurions 84 22 0 0 88
2018–19 Widnes Vikings 33 3 0 0 12
2020– Toulouse Olympique 17[3] 4 0 0 0
Total 81 0 0 308
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2006 New Zealand 1 0 0 0 0
2007–13 Samoa 6 2 0 0 8
Source: [4][5]
As of 18 October 2019

He has also played for the Wigan Warriors, Salford Red Devils, Leigh Centurions and the Widnes Vikings in the Super League. During his time with Wigan, he won two Super League Grand Finals and two Challenge Cups.

Background

Hansen was born in Auckland, New Zealand.

Early life

Hansen is the son of the rugby league footballer for Salford and Swinton, Shane Hansen. He is a product of the Folly Lane ARLFC who play at the Blue Ribbon Field, Pendlebury.[6] Hansen attended the same Swinton school, Moorside High School, as Manchester United's Ryan Giggs. He is of Samoan, Chinese, and Scottish descent.[7]

Hansen impressed in Wigan's Academy setup and was signed on a new two-year deal in July 2003. Head coach of the time Stuart Raper said: "Harrison has impressed me this season in the Under 21s and he is another quality young player to come through the ranks joining the likes of Luke Robinson, Gareth Hock and Kevin Brown."

Rugby Executive Dean Bell commented, "Harrison possess all the right qualities to become a regular first grade player, he has come through our scholarship system and has been outstanding in our Under 21 side this season. His signing reinforces the Wigan club's ongoing commitment in developing and promoting our young players."

Club career

Hansen continued his development by being promoted to the first team setup for Super League IX. He made his first team début in Terry O'Connor's Testimonial match against London Broncos. He went on to make six substitute appearances in the season.

In 2005, Hansen became a more established first team regular in the second row, partly due to the departure of Andy Farrell, and injuries to Sean O'Loughlin and Gareth Hock. He signed a new 2-year contract with the club in April 2005. He agreed a new 4-year deal with Wigan on 14 November 2006 keeping him at the club until 2010.

Hansen played in the 2010 Super League Grand Final victory over St. Helens at Old Trafford.[8]

Hansen's 2011's Super League XVI started with a try against St Helens during the season-opening Magic Weekend event, which was followed up with another try against Bradford Bulls the week after.[9][10] Hansen scored again in Round 3's match against Salford, however in Round 12 during a victory against Wakefield Trinity, he suffered an injury which would keep him out of action for at least a month.[11][12][13]

Hansen played as a second-row forward in the 2011 Challenge Cup Final 28–18 victory over the Leeds Rhinos at Wembley Stadium.[14][15]

Hansen played in the 2013 Challenge Cup Final victory over Hull F.C. at Wembley Stadium.[16][17][18] He also played in the 2013 Super League Grand Final victory over the Warrington Wolves at Old Trafford.[19][20][21][22][23]

In 2013, Hansen signed for Salford Red Devils for an undisclosed fee, signing a four-year contract.[24][25][26] Upon signing, he claimed it was the influence of Marwan Koukash that meant he was signing, and that joining Salford would be "a great new challenge. I have achieved everything I could at Wigan and had a great time there. I'm not just coming to Salford for an easy ride".[24]

Toulouse Olympique

On 18 September 2019, Widnes announced that Hansen had left them and signed a one-year contract with Toulouse for the 2020 season.[27]

On 10 October 2021, Hansen played for Toulouse in their victory over Featherstone in the Million Pound Game which saw the club promoted to the Super League for the first time in their history.[28] Three days later Toulouse announced that Hansen had signed a one-year contract extension until the end of the 2022 season.[3] Hansen played 20 games for the club in their 2022 Super League campaign as they finished bottom of the table and were relegated back to the RFL Championship.[29] On 15 October 2023, Hansen played in Toulouse Olympique's upset loss in the Million Pound Game against the London Broncos.[30]

Representative career

Eligible for England, New Zealand and Samoa, Hansen represented England at youth level. However, in 2006 he was called up into the New Zealand squad for the mid season international against Great Britain. He later switched his allegiance to Samoa, and made his Samoa début in 2007.

Hansen was part of the Samoan squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.[31][32]

In 2009 Hansen was named as part of the Samoan side for the Pacific Cup.[33]

Following the withdrawal of Roy Asotasi, Hansen was named Samoa's captain for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup.[34] However just before the tournament kicked off, he suffered an injury, forcing him out of the tournament. He handed the captaincy over to Iosia Soliola.

References
  1. HANSEN, HARRISON LUTHER MATA'AFA 2006 – KIWI #728 Archived 23 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine nzleague.co.nz
  2. "Harrison Hansen Salford Red Devils". www.superleague.co.uk. Rugby Football League. 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  3. "Harrison HANSEN rempile un an de plus au TO". 19 October 2021.
  4. "Players". LoveRugbyLeague.
  5. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  6. The Blue Ribbon Field is in Pendlebury, not Swinton. It is bounded by the railway line, Pendlebury Road, Fraser Street, Heron Street and Hilton Square. PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE. THANK YOU.
  7. Wilson, Andy (30 October 2008). "Hansen goes to war for his Samoan ancestors". The Guardian. London.
  8. Wilson, Andy (2 October 2010). "Wigan turn St Helens into sinners with Super League Grand Final win". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  9. "St Helens 16-16 Wigan". 12 February 2011.
  10. "Bradford 10–44 Wigan". BBC. 20 February 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  11. "Warriors battle past Reds". Sky Sports. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  12. "Wigan ease past Wildcats". Sky Sports. 25 April 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  13. Hadfield, Dave (1 May 2011). "Farrell to fill Hansen's boots for Wigan". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 9 May 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  14. Scott, Ged (27 August 2011). "Leeds 18-28 Wigan". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  15. Wilson, Andy (27 August 2011). "Leeds Rhinos 18-28 Wigan Warriors – Challenge Cup final match report". The Guardian. London.
  16. "Hull FC 0-16 Wigan Warriors". BBC Sport. 24 August 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  17. "Wigan Warriors overcome Hull FC and elements to win Challenge Cup". Guardian. 24 August 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  18. "Wigan Warriors grind out victory over Hull". Sky Sports. 24 August 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  19. "Super League Grand Final". Super League. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  20. Newsum, Matt (5 October 2013). "Super League Grand Final: Wigan Warriors beat Warrington". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  21. "Super League Grand Final: Warrington v Wigan". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  22. "Warrington Wolves 16 Wigan Warriors 30". Daily Telegraph. 5 October 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  23. "Wigan see off Warrington in X-rated Grand Final to complete double". Guardian. 5 October 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  24. "Red Devils sign Harrison Hansen from Warriors". Salford Red Devils Official Website. 17 December 2013.
  25. "Rugby League: Harrison Hansen leaves Wigan for Salford Red Devils". Sky Sports. 17 December 2013.
  26. "Salford: Harrison Hansen leaves Wigan to join Red Devils". BBC. 17 December 2013.
  27. "Harrison Hansen Joins Toulouse". 18 September 2019.
  28. "Toulouse promoted to Super League after beating Featherstone". www.skysports.com.
  29. "Toulouse suffering "untold damage" due to relegation from Super League". www.loverugbyleague.com.
  30. "Championship Grand Final: Toulouse 14-18 London Broncos - Capital club back in Super League". www.bbc.co.uk.
  31. "Samoa, Tonga and Fiji name squads". BBC. 8 October 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2008.
  32. "Samoa name World Cup Squad". League Unlimited. 5 August 2008. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
  33. Poching names strong Samoan squad Archived 10 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine therhinos.co.uk, 6 October 2009
  34. Page Title[Usurped!]
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