Nick Easter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by I dream of horses (talk | contribs) at 04:23, 30 July 2017 (→‎International career: clean up, typo(s) fixed: 8 year → 8-year using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Nick Easter
Birth nameNicholas James Easter
Date of birth (1978-08-15) 15 August 1978 (age 45)
Place of birthEpsom, Surrey, England
Height1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight115 kg (18 st 2 lb)[1]
SchoolDulwich College
UniversityNottingham Trent University
Notable relative(s)Mark Easter, Anne Easter Smith
Rugby union career
Position(s) Number 8
Current team Harlequins
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2001–2004
2004–2016		 Orrell
Harlequins		 75
281		 (150)
(265)
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2007–2016
2007–2016		 England Saxons
England
54
(45)
Correct as of 10 October 2015

Nicholas James "Nick" Easter (born 15 August 1978) is a former professional rugby union player, who played as a Number 8 for Orrell, Harlequins and the England national team.

He began his rugby union career in 2001, playing for Orrell, before moving to Harlequins three years later. He began playing for the England national team in 2007, playing in the 2007, 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup, as well as the annual Six Nations Championships. Aged 38, he confirmed his retirement in 2016.

Early life

Easter is the brother of Sale Sharks player Mark Easter and the nephew of author Anne Easter Smith. His father, John, played squash professionally and reached No. 1 in Britain and No. 9 in the world. His great grandfather, Pieter Le Roux, played for the Springboks. He attended the South London public school Dulwich College and Nottingham Trent University.[2]

Club career

After a period working in London, Easter moved to Rosslyn Park F.C. before moving onto Orrell and then Harlequins where he has stayed since.

Easter has won the Harlequins Player of the year award four times in 2004–05, 2005–06, 2012–13 and 2014–15 season at the age of 36.

In the penultimate game of the 2013–14 season, against Bath, Nick became the most capped Harlequin in the professional era with 233 appearances.

Retirement

After 15 seasons, 54 international appearances and a record 281 appearances for Harlequins, Easter announced his retirement on the 29th July 2016. This allowed Easter to focus on his new role as Defence Coach at Harlequins.

International career

Easter playing for England in the 2011 World Cup

Easter made his England debut in the 2007 Six Nations win against Italy.[3]

On 4 August 2007, Easter scored four tries as England beat Wales by a record 62–5 at Twickenham in a World Cup warm-up game.[4] Easter was the first No.8 to score four tries in one match for England.

He started 6 matches of the 2007 Rugby World Cup where he was a key influence in helping make the final.[5][6][7]

During the 2008 Six Nations[8] he was named man of match against France away in Englands 24–13 win. He also started all 5 matches of the 2009 Six Nations.[9]

On the 2010 England tour to Australia he was named man of the match in the second test victory 21–20, helping secure England's first win down under for seven years. Later that year he captained his country during the autumn internationals against Samoa which England won 26–13.

He won the 2011 Six Nations, despite England losing 24-8 to Ireland which meant they missed out on the grand slam. In spite of the defeat however, he lifted the Six Nations trophy as England ended their 8-year wait for a title.

He was involved in the 2011 Rugby Union World Cup and was reported to be the player to have reacted to England's quarter-final defeat by France in Auckland by joking: "There's £35k just gone down the toilet."

Between 2012-2014, despite being regarded as the 'best No. 8 in England', he found his road into the England squad blocked, but during that time enjoyed success with Harlequins helping them to win the Amlin Cup in 2011 and the club's first-ever English Premiership title in 2012 and LV Cup the following year.

After being in the international wilderness for just over three-years Nick was recalled to the England squad for the 2015 Six Nations. In the opening game he came on as a substitute for England in their 21–16 win over Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. In the second game, he scored a try against Italy and thus became the oldest player ever to score for England. He won his 50th cap away to Ireland.

After being overlooked for the initial 31-man England squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Easter was called up as an injury replacement for Billy Vunipola. He put in a Man of the Match performance in England's final World cup game against Uruguay, scoring 3 tries.[10]

Outside rugby

Easter has appeared in three separate episodes of BBC One sport quiz programme A Question of Sport.[11]

References

  1. ^ "England Elite Squad - Nick Easter". web page. RFU. 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  2. ^ "Nick Easter". Sportsvibe. 6 February 2009. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  3. ^ Shea, Julian (10 February 2007). "England 20–7 Italy". BBC. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  4. ^ Standley, James (4 August 2007). "England 62–5 Wales". BBC. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
  5. ^ Shea, Julian (6 October 2007). "England 12–10 Australia". BBC. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  6. ^ Standley, James (13 October 2007). "England 14–9 France". BBC. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  7. ^ Standley, James (20 October 2007). "World Cup final 2007". BBC. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  8. ^ Gordos, Phil (15 March 2008). "Six Nations 2008". BBC. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  9. ^ Standley, James (21 March 2009). "2009 Six Nations". BBC. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  10. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/oct/04/england-rugby-world-cup-stuart-lancaster-10-reasons
  11. ^ "Nick Easter - IMDb". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 17 May 2017.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nick_Easter&oldid=793023318"