Michael Stanley (rugby union)

Michael Stanley

Personal information
Born	(1989-12-29) 29 December 1989 Auckland, New Zealand
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	97 kg (15 st 4 lb)
School(s) attended	Gable Hall School
Relatives	Sam Stanley (brother) Joe Stanley (uncle) Benson Stanley (cousin) Jeremy Stanley (cousin) Winston Stanley (cousin) Tim Cahill (cousin)
Club information
Playing position	First Five-Eighth / Second Five-Eighth
Current club	Counties Manukau
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Pts)†
2014−	Counties Manukau	7	(26)
2015	Ulster	2	(0)
Representative team(s)‡
2014−	Samoa	8	(54)
* Senior club appearances and points correct as of 12 August 2015. † Appearances (Points). ‡ Representative team caps and points correct as of 26 September 2015.

Michael Stanley (born 29 December 1989) is a New Zealand-born, English raised, Samoan rugby union rugby player.

Career

Stanley started his senior career in England with Saracens as an academy player from the age of 14. He made his senior debut for Saracens versus Toulon as a centre under the tutelage of Eddie Jones. Stanley was just 18 when he faced a SBW in his prime during that match. He represented England age groups at U16, U18 and U20's..

He then moved to New Zealand in 2013 to live with (uncle) former Auckland rugby union player, Martin Stanley, to play with family club: Ponsonby, his first season in Auckland saw him named in the Auckland ITM Cup training squad but due to injury only managed to represent the Auckland Development a handful of times. After his time in Auckland Stanley made his way south joining Tana Umaga's Counties Manukau Steelers during the 2014 ITM Cup. A long-term injury to first-choice first five-eighth Baden Kerr saw him earn game time and make seven appearances scoring 26 points in the process.

Stanley was also involved with the Chiefs development squad before signing a short term deal with Ulster in 2015 and moving to Belfast for the four remaining months of the season as injury cover.

After the 2015 RWC Stanley decided to stay in England due to family reasons. He has signed a short term deal with Old Elthamians until the end of the 2015/2016 season in April. He is also involved with helping in the sports department at Eltham College, specifically with the 7s coaching.

International career

Stanley's first experience of international rugby came when he was named in the Samoan squad for the 2014 end-of-year rugby union tests and made his test debut on 8 November 2014 in a 24-13 defeat by Italy in Ascoli Piceno. Stanley was selected in 2015 Pacific Nations Cup, playing and kicking superbly leading on to his selection for the Samoan 2015 Rugby World Cup squad.