Andrew Miller (rugby union)

Andrew Miller
BornAndrew John Miller Son (Max Miller)
(1972-09-13) 13 September 1972
Height1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight82 kg (12 st 13 lb)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Fly-half, Full back
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1991-1995 United Pirates
1996 Te Puke Sports
1997 Te Puke
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1998-2004 Kobelco Steelers
Provincial / State sides
Years Team Apps (Points)
1991-1997 Bay of Plenty 69 (718)
2004 Southland 1 (0)
Super Rugby
Years Team Apps (Points)
1996 Crusaders 7 (77)
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1992 New Zealand Colts 2 (21)
2002-2003 Japan 10 (70)

Andrew (Andy) Miller (born 13 September 1972) is a former professional rugby player from New Zealand who played as a fly half and represented the Japan national rugby union team.

Miller started his career with Bay of Plenty and played in the inaugural 1996 Super 12 season for the Canterbury Crusaders, before moving to Japan to play for the Kobelco Steelers.

After qualifying to play for Japan through residency, Miller made his international debut in May 2002 against Russia.[1] Graham Henry said that he could have pushed for a place in the All Blacks side.[2]

He was selected for the Japan squad for the 2003 Rugby World Cup. where he kept the leading Japanese points scorer of all time Keiji Hirose out of the team and was credited with helping them to some credible performances and was noted as one of Japan's best players at the tournament.[3] He notably scored a 52-metre drop goal against Fiji which was the longest in Rugby World Cup history.[4][5][6][7]

He didn't play again for Japan after the World Cup after they briefly made a policy not to select foreign born players in 2004, and Miller returned to New Zealand to play for Southland.

References

  1. ^ "Japan v Russia at Tokyo".
  2. ^ "Henry, Horan sing praises of Japanese rugby".
  3. ^ "Japan - The Cherry Blossoms".
  4. ^ "Andrew Miller drop goal". Archived from the original on 6 June 2014.
  5. ^ "RWC PLAYER RECORDS".
  6. ^ "Rugby World Cup Records". Archived from the original on 2 May 2012.
  7. ^ "Carter adding another weapon to All Blacks arsenal?".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)