Mike Catt

Mike Catt
OBE

Birth name	Michael John Catt
Date of birth	(1971-09-17) 17 September 1971
Place of birth	Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight	13 st 8 lb (86 kg)
School	Grey High School
Rugby union career
Position(s) Fullback, Fly-half, Centre, Wing Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 1992–2004 2004–10 Bath London Irish 227 76 (837) (61) Correct as of 10 July 2014 Provincial / State sides Years Team Apps (Points) Eastern Province () Correct as of 10 July 2014 International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1994–2007 1997–2001 England British and Irish Lions 75 1 (142) (0) Correct as of 10 July 2014 Coaching career Years Team 2008–2012 2012–2015 2016–2019 2019– London Irish (Attack Coach) England (Backs coach) Italy (Attack coach) Ireland (Attack coach)

Michael John Catt OBE (born 17 September 1971) is a South African-born former rugby union player who played for the England national rugby union team. He played professionally for the clubs London Irish and Bath. He earned 75 international caps for England and played in two World Cup Finals, in 2003 (when England won) and 2007. With his appearance in the October 2007 final, at age 36 years 1 month, he became the oldest ever player to play in a Rugby World Cup final. Since 2008, Catt has coached various rugby teams, and is currently an assistant coach for the Ireland national rugby team.

South African origins

Catt was born on 17 September 1971 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He attended Grey High School in Port Elizabeth until 1989 and represented Eastern Province at rugby union. His mother Anne was English, through whom he qualified to play for England later on, and as a student he toured England. At the time, South Africa was banned from international competition because of the country's apartheid policy. He moved to England after leaving school.

Club career

Catt joined Bath in 1992 as understudy to Stuart Barnes and made his debut as a 21-year-old against Nottingham R.F.C. later the same year. He started for Bath in the victorious 1998 Heineken Cup Final as they defeated Brive. He had a testimonial year with Bath in 2004, but at the end of the 2003–04 season, Bath decided not to renew his contract and he moved to London Irish. At the start of the 2007–08 season, he announced he was going to be backs coach for London Irish as well as a player. Whilst with the Exiles, he enjoyed a fruitful twilight of his career and in May 2006 was named Guinness Premiership Player of the Season. He is the oldest ever player to play in an English Premiership final (May 2009), aged 37, when he was a player / coach at London Irish.

On 8 May 2010 he played the final competitive club match of his career. Already a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to rugby.

International career

In 2006 he received an England recall, making his first Test appearances for two years on the summer tour to Australia, cementing his place in England's top ten most capped players. He had been in international exile until he was called up to captain England in the 2007 Six Nations game against France at Twickenham. England, with regular captain Phil Vickery and fly-half Jonny Wilkinson out to injury, won the match 26–18. He also captained England in the Six Nations defeat to Wales at the Millennium Stadium and again in England's pre-World Cup defeat to France at Twickenham in August 2007.

Catt confirmed his retirement from international rugby on 27 October 2007, the week after England lost to South Africa in that year's World Cup.

Coaching career

Catt's coaching career began in 2008, where he replaced Brian Smith as attack coach at London Irish; he acted as a player-coach for the 2008-10 season. When he fully retired from playing at the end of the 2009-10 season, he remained with the London Irish set-up until Smith returned to the club in 2012.

In 2012, Catt joined the England national set-up as backs/attack coach for their 2012 tour to South Africa. On 15 December 2015, following the resignation of head coach Stuart Lancaster on 11 November 2015, newly appointed head coach Eddie Jones sacked the whole coaching team.

On 25 March 2016, Catt was announced as part of the newly appointed Italy coaching staff, sharing duties with Conor O'Shea and Stephen Aboud.

On 24 June 2019, it was confirmed after the 2019 Rugby World Cup, Catt will be joining former England player and coach Andy Farrell's coaching team at Ireland; after Joe Schmidt, the current Head Coach, steps down. Catt said: “I am looking forward to RWC in Japan and seeing the group of players we have here in Italy fulfil their potential and achieve the objectives we have set for ourselves. Obviously it is an honour to be given this future opportunity with Ireland but I will focus on that challenge only after I have given my all for Italy and this group of players.”

England’s coaching group during the 2015 Rugby World Cup will now all be employed in Ireland – Andy Farrell (current Ireland defence coach and future head coach), Stuart Lancaster (Leinster Rugby senior coach), Graham Rowntree (Munster Rugby forwards coach) and Mike Catt (Ireland attack coach).

Honours

Bath

• Premiership 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96
• Anglo-Welsh Cup 1994, 1995, 1996
• European Rugby Champions Cup 1998

England

• Six Nations 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001
• World Cup 2003

Lions

• South Africa 1997 Winner
• Australia 2001 Tourist