Jimmy Gopperth

James 'Jimmy' Gopperth (born 29 June 1983) is a rugby union player who plays for Wasps in the English Premiership. His position is fly-half and he played previously for the Hurricanes and Blues in the Super 14 and the Junior All Blacks. Gopperth has also played for Old Boys University in the Wellington premier competition and also played with distinction for New Plymouth Boys' High School at school level prior to moving to Wellington. Gopperth signed for his previous club, Newcastle Falcons in the summer of 2009 on a three-year deal with the Guinness Premiership side, which he joined at the end of 2009.

In early March 2013, Gopperth announced that he was leaving Newcastle to join up with three time Heineken Cup Champions Leinster for two seasons.^[2] He moved on to Wasps in 2015.

Club career

Before the Hurricanes

Gopperth was born in New Plymouth and first played rugby for New Plymouth Boys' High School, before having his first break in the game and playing for the Old Boys University in the Wellington premier competition. Then, in 2004 at the age of 21, Gopperth signed for the then Super 12 team Hurricanes.

Hurricanes (Wellington)

Gopperth made a good start to his career with the Hurricanes when he made 12 appearances in the 2004/2005 Super 12 season. All of his appearances during that season came from starting the game and he managed to score an impressive 139 points, scoring 3 tries in the process.

Gopperth got a chance to finally show what he could do in the 2005/2006 season, in the newly formed Super 14. He made 7 starts during the season, but made all in all 15 appearances during this season, in which he scored a fairly unimpressive 86, scoring a further 2 tries and racking up 637 minutes throughout.

During the 2006/2007 season Gopperth impressed for his club Wellington, although was unimpressive for his region the Hurricanes. In Super Rugby Gopperth managed to get 66 points in 13 appearances, still nowhere near his opening season tally, but for Wellington in the Air New Zealand Cup he managed to get an impressive 121 points in just 10 games, mostly through the boot finally showing what he could do.

In his final season for the Hurricanes Gopperth still could not reach his true form, only scoring 70 points in 12 games with a single try, but he impressed again in the Air New Zealand Cup where he scored an overall haul of 147 points in 12 games.

Blues (North Harbour)

In 2008, Gopperth joined North Harbour and region Blues. During the 2008/2009 season Gopperth only managed to get 11 games and only starting 9 of them, but still managing to score an impressive 101 points with 4 tries included. Then, Gopperth managed to rack up 90 points in 10 games for North Harbour in the Air New Zealand Cup, where he added two tries to his tally.

Newcastle Falcons

In 2009, only a season after joining the Blues, Gopperth joined Newcastle Falcons on a three-year deal replacing World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson. In his first season Gopperth made 22 appearances, scoring 2 tries and a massive haul of 219 points - making him the league's top scorer. Gopperth, made an appearance for Newcastle Falcons in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, not scoring any points. Gopperth also ended the season as the top points scorer in the Amlin Challenge Cup scoring an impressive 74 points in 7 appearances.

In the 2010/2011 season Gopperth again finished top scorer in the Premiership.

Leinster Rugby

In March 2013 Gopperth was linked with a move to Leinster Rugby to compete with Ian Madigan for the starting number ten position being vacated by Johnny Sexton's proposed move to Racing Metro in France.^[3] On March 29, 2013, Leinster confirmed that Gopperth had signed for the Irish province.^[4] In December 2014, it was speculated the Ballinteer native would return to the English Premiership at the end of the season.^[5]

Wasps

In January 2015 Gopperth signed to Wasps^[6]

International career

Junior All Blacks

Gopperth has never played for his national team, the All Blacks, but has made one appearance for the second string team the Junior All Blacks. His appearance was during the Pacific Nations Cup, which the Junior All Blacks won. Gopperth scored 6 points, kicking two penalties.

References

External links

• ESPN Profile
• Leinster Rugby Profile