From Island to Ireland
With the luck of the Irish and the heart of a Kiwi, Jamison Gibson-Park has steered Ireland to a 17-13 victory over Scotland on St Patrick’s Day, clinching Six Nations glory a feat that has the island and Irish hearts swelling with pride.
Gibson-Park, who honed his skills on Aotea, was named Man of the Match for his stellar performance at the Aviva Stadium.
The match was a nail-biter, with Andrew Porter’s try breaking the deadlock and igniting the St. Patrick’s weekend celebrations. Despite a pair of first-half penalties from Finn Russell keeping the Scots close, and a late consolation try by Huw Jones, it was the Irish who emerged victorious.
Commentators raved about scrum-half Gibson-Park with Planet Rugby branding the Barrier boy ‘incredibly intelligent’.
“Just about everything good from Ireland today came through the experienced star”, they wrote.
Gibson-Park reflected on the win with humility, acknowledging the collective effort: “I think we had to stay in the fight,” he remarked, highlighting the intense back-and-forth nature of the match.
The Kiwi playmaker lauded his teammates’ resilience, saying, “I’m so unbelievably proud of the boys and the whole staff have stuck together over the last week and managed to gouge out a performance today that we can be proud of.”
In front of a raucous Dublin crowd and being beamed to whānau and friends at home Gibson-Park shared the victory’s significance, “It’s a pretty amazing feeling, to be back here in front of our friends, our family and our home supporters is pretty incredible, especially two years in a row.”
Jamison Gibson-Park’s journey from early education at Mulberry Grove School on the Barrier to becoming Ireland’s celebrated scrum-half has been remarkable. His formative years at Gisborne Boys’ High School set the stage for a rugby career that took off with Taranaki, soared with the Blues and Hurricanes in Super Rugby, finding its pinnacle when he became Irish qualified in 2020.
