Topsy Ojo
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
|---|---|
| Weight | 85 kg (13 st 5 lb) |
Topsy Ojo (born 28 July 1985) is an English rugby union player for the London Irish club, and is a member of the England national rugby union team squad.
He became a full member of the London Irish squad in April 2006, and now plays wing.
Career
Ojo was born in Tottenham, London. His father, Akin Ojo, a thoracic surgeon, and his mother Bola are from south-west Nigeria[1] where Ojo is a common Yoruba name. Topsy Ojo started to play rugby union at Dartford Grammar School at the age of eleven, as well as going on to captain the 1st XV. He also represented Kent and London & South-East Schools at both U16 and U18. After he starting playing some under-19 trial matches and being recommended for the London Irish Academy he went on to join the Sunbury based Academy in July 2003.
He made his English club debut in September 2005 in a match against Bristol. By April 2006 he had joined the full London Irish squad, and now plays wing. He has also been a member of the England Intermediate National Academy at Bath, where he was coached by Brian Ashton and his colleagues, and went onto represent England at the under-19 2003 Six Nations, as well as the FIRA World Cup Championships. He also went onto play for the under-21 English team.
Ojo has been tipped to replace Tom Varndell as "the hottest young finisher" by the BBC. He finished the 2005-06 Guinness Premiership season with 14 games in the starting lineup with 7 tries. Despite only being at the club a few years, he has quickly become a firm favourite with the crowd[citation needed]. Ojo scored a try in the London Irish's first premiership game of the 2006–07 season, in which they defeated promoted Harlequins at Twickenham.
On May 29, 2007, Ojo was called up to the full England squad for the first time. Prior to this he had played for England Saxons against the United States in the Churchill Cup, where he scored the Saxons' first try.
He was called into the England Saxons squad to face Italy A in Ragusa, Sicily on 9 February 2008. [2] [3]
On May 13th 2008, Topsy Ojo was named in Martin Johnson's first England squad selection, set to tour New Zealand this summer. He won his first cap on June 14th. Ojo showed both pace and vision in his first game scoring twice in a game where New Zealand were dominant. His first try was an interception of a Daniel Carter pass, before running nearly the length of the pitch (80m) to outpace the New Zealand full back who had to come from the other side of the field. His second try involved picking the ball up after a kick and running it under the posts. On the strength of this performance, Ojo was one of the few England backs to be retained in the starting XV for the second Test in Christchurch.
On 23rd June 2008, it was revealed that Ojo was involved with an ongoing rape case alongside 3 other English Rugby stars. [4]
References
- ^ Topsy Ojo: Ojo safely on fast track in a topsy-turvy world. The Independent, Saturday, 3 November 2007.
- ^ "England Saxons training squad for Italy A". RFU. 2008-02-04. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
- ^ "Guest, Care and Jarvis join Skinner and Brown in England Saxons squad". Quins. 2008-02-04. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
- ^ http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1331738.ece.
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