Ash Dixon
Ash Dixon (born 1 September 1988) is a New Zealand rugby union player, who currently plays as a hooker for Green Rockets Tokatsu in the Japan Rugby League One. He formerly played for the in Super Rugby and for in New Zealand's domestic National Provincial Championship competition. He has also played for the and . Early career. Dixon was a 2006 New Zealand Secondary Schools representative and Canterbury age-group rep through to Under-19 level. He has won the 2007 Under 19 Rugby World Championship with the New Zealand Under-19 team as well as the 2008 IRB Junior  World Championship with the New Zealand Under-20s. Senior career. Dixon started his career with , playing 21 matches for the province from 2008 to 2009 before shifting north to further his career with . The move paid off after he was awarded a wider training group contract with the for the 2010 Super 14 season. After being a part of the Wider Training Group in 2010, Dixon was then promoted to the senior side for the 2011 Super Rugby season, but didn't play for the franchise. In 2012, Dixon moved back to ahead of the 2012 ITM Cup season, and some  solid displays for the Magpies saw him named in the Wider Training Group for the 2013 Super Rugby season. He made his Super Rugby debut on 15 March 2013 against the Highlanders. He ended up playing 9 games for the Hurricanes that season and in October 2013, he was named in the Hurricanes squad for the 2014 season. After two seasons with the Hurricanes, Dixon moved to Dunedin to play for the . He was first named in the Highlanders squad for the 2015 Super Rugby season and played 7 seasons for the southern franchise. He was part of the Highlanders  squad that won the 2015 Super Rugby title, defeating the 21-14 in the final. On 12 August 2021, the announced that Dixon would be leaving the franchise, having played exactly 100 games for them, to take up a two-year contract in Japan. The same day, Japanese club Green Rockets Tokatsu, which competes in the Japan Rugby League One competition, announced that Dixon would be joining the club.<ref name="２０２１－２２シーズン新加入選手のお知らせ 12/08/2021"></ref> New Zealand Māori. On 25 October 2016 Dixon was named Captain of the New Zealand Māori for their Northern hemisphere tour. Ahead of their game against Munster in  Thomond Park in Limerick, he presented a Māori jersey with the initials of the recently deceased Anthony Foley to Foley's sons. In 2020, Dixon was awarded the Tom French Cup for Māori rugby player of the year. Career honours. Highlanders Hawke's Bay