Rugby Union
Utility player is a term used mostly in New Zealand. In rugby union, it comes in a form of utility back. It is mostly a back who can cover at least two positions. Notable examples in New Zealand include Daniel Bowden, Luke McAllister and Cory Jane, but Australia also has many utility backs like Adam Ashley-Cooper, Quade Cooper and Matt Giteau.
Despite that, there are forwards who are capable of covering multiple positions. Many players in the back row of the scrum (flankers and number eights) will frequently switch between the two positions. Less often, a player may also be capable of playing lock as well as a back-row position, with a notable modern example being Sébastien Chabal, who has played internationally as both a lock and a back-rower. However, this description never applies to props who can play both ends of the front row (i.e. Numbers 1 & 3).
Read more about this topic: Utility Player
Famous quotes containing the word union:
“Some are petitioning the State to dissolve the Union, to disregard the requisitions of the President. Why do they not dissolve it themselves,—the union between themselves and the State,—and refuse to pay their quota into its treasury? Do not they stand in the same relation to the State that the State does to the Union? And have not the same reasons prevented the State from resisting the Union which have prevented them from resisting the State?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)