(1901– ).

Rugby footballer.

A new biography of Nicholls, Marcus Frederick appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Mark Nicholls was born at Greytown on 13 July 1901. He was educated at Wellington College, playing for the school. He next played first five-eight for the Petone club and, in 1921, was selected for the New Zealand team to play South Africa at Auckland. In the following year he toured Australia with the All Blacks. He played for the All Blacks again in 1924, 1925, 1926, 1928, and 1930. During this period he represented New Zealand in 51 matches, scoring 284 points for his side. His best single score was for the North Island team in 1926, when he gained 20 points. He is rightly regarded as one of the great tacticians of the game. Mark Nicholls edited The All Blacks in Springbokland (1928).