Alex Mitchell (rugby union)

Alex Mitchell

Full name	Alexander Arthur David Mitchell
Date of birth	(1997-05-25) 25 May 1997 (age 27)
Place of birth	Maidstone, England
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) [1]
Weight	89 kg (196 lb; 14 st 0 lb) [1]
School	Lymm High School
Notable relative(s)	James Mitchell (brother)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Scrum-half Current team Northampton Saints Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 2015 Moseley 1 (5) 2017– Northampton Saints 123 (230) Correct as of 19 January 2024 International career Years Team Apps (Points) 2014–2015 England U18 14 (5) 2016–2017 England U20 9 (20) 2019 England XV 1 (0) 2021– England 18 (15) Correct as of 13 July 2024

Alexander Arthur David Mitchell (born 25 May 1997) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Premiership Rugby club Northampton Saints and the England national team.

Club career

His older brother James Mitchell is also a professional rugby union player who joined Northampton Saints from Connacht during the 2019 Rugby World Cup. ^[2] Alex Mitchell was educated at Lymm High School. His other brother Jordan is also an exceptional scrum half and an excellent cricketer. During his time at Lymm, he played against Tom Curry and Ben Curry in the NatWest Schools Cup, where Lymm lost to Oundle School at the Quarter Final stage. ^[3]

Mitchell was formerly a member of the Sale Sharks system before joining the Northampton Saints academy in 2015. ^[4] His debut season of 2017–2018 he made nine appearances for Northampton. ^[4] The following campaign saw him start for the side that defeated Saracens in the final of the Premiership Rugby Cup. ^[5]

Mitchell scored two tries in their 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup quarter-final victory over Bulls and then started in the semi-final elimination against Leinster. ^{[6] [7]} At the end of that season he scored the winning try in the 2023–24 Premiership Rugby final as Northampton beat Bath to become league champions. ^[8]

International career

Mitchell represented England at under-16 and under-17 level. ^{[3] [9]} In March 2015 he scored a try for England under-18 against France at the Rugby Europe Under-18 Championship. ^[9]

Mitchell received his first call-up to the England under-20 team in October 2015 ^[3] and was a member of the side that completed the grand slam during the 2017 Six Nations Under 20s Championship. ^{[10] [11]} Mitchell was also a member of the squad at the 2017 World Rugby Under 20 Championship, ^[3] scoring tries in pool fixtures against Samoa and Wales. ^{[12] [13]} He also scored tries in the semi-final against South Africa and defeat against New Zealand in the final as England finished runners up. ^{[14] [15]}

In June 2019 Mitchell started for an England XV in the non-cap Quilter Cup against the Barbarians at Twickenham. ^[16] In October 2020 Mitchell was called up to a senior England training squad by head coach Eddie Jones ^[17] and following an injury to Willi Heinz, Mitchell was called into the squad as backup to Ben Youngs and Dan Robson for the conclusion of the 2020 Six Nations Championship. ^[18]

In October 2021 Mitchell was called up to the England squad for their 2021 Autumn Nations Series match against Tonga, replacing the injured Harry Randall. ^[19] On 6 November 2021 Mitchell made his England debut off the bench as a replacement for Ben Youngs against Tonga and scored his first try as part of England's 69–3 victory. ^[20]

After making his debut Mitchell did not feature for England again until the 2023 Six Nations Championship. ^[21] Later that year he was initially not included in the squad for the 2023 Rugby World Cup however an injury to Jack van Poortvliet led to his selection. ^[22] Mitchell ended up as first choice during the tournament starting in three of their pool fixtures. ^[23] In the knockout phase he started the quarter-final victory over Fiji and semi-final elimination against champions South Africa as England finished third with the bronze medal. ^{[24] [25]}

Career statistics

List of international tries

as of 22 June 2024 ^{[update] [26]}

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	6 November 2021	Twickenham Stadium, London, England	Tonga	67–3	69–3	2021 end-of-year rugby union internationals	[20]
2	3 February 2024	Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy	Italy	19–17	27–24	2024 Six Nations Championship	[27]
3	22 June 2024	Japan National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan	Japan	31–3	52–17	2024 tour of Japan	[28]

Honours

Northampton

• Premiership Rugby: 2023–24 ^[8]
• Premiership Rugby Cup: 2018–19 ^[5]

England

• Rugby World Cup
  • Third place: 2023

References

1. "Alex Mitchell player profile". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
2. "James Mitchell: Northampton Saints sign former Connacht scrum-half". BBC Sport. 3 September 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
3. "Club profile:Alex Mitchell". Northampton Saints official website. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
4. "Alex Mitchell signs first senior deal with Northampton Saints". Premiership Rugby. 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
5. "Premiership Rugby Cup Final: Northampton beat Saracens with three first-half tries". BBC Sport. 17 March 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
6. Mann, Mantej (13 April 2024). "Northampton Saints 59-22 Bulls - Saints cruise into semi-finals". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
7. Bradley, Jonathan (4 May 2024). "Leinster beat Saints to make Euro final with Lowe treble". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
8. Hurcom, Sophie (8 June 2024). "Northampton hold off 14-man Bath in Premiership final". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
9. "Alex Mitchell". Ultimate Rugby. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
10. "England U20 seal grand slam with win over Ireland". Premiership Rugby. 17 March 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
11. "Under-20 Six Nations: Ireland U20s 10-14 England U20s". BBC Sport. 17 March 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
12. "England kick off World Rugby U20 Championship defence in style". ESPN. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
13. "World Rugby Under-20s: England 34-22 Wales". BBC Sport. 4 June 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
14. "World Rugby Championship: England Under-20s beat South Africa to reach final". BBC Sport. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
15. "World Under-20 Championship final: England 17-64 New Zealand". BBC Sport. 18 June 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
16. Cantillon, Michael (2 June 2019). "England XV 51-43 Barbarians: Inexperienced XV register shock win at Twickenham". Sky Sports. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
17. "England: Head coach Eddie Jones names 12 uncapped players in training squad". BBC Sport. 5 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
18. "Six Nations: England scrum-half Willi Heinz out of match with Italy". BBC Sport. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
19. "England squad: Louis Lynagh and Alex Mitchell called up". BBC Sport. 31 October 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
20. Grey, Becky (6 November 2021). "England 69-3 Tonga: Hosts make rampant start to Autumn Nations Series". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
21. Jones, Chris (8 February 2023). "Six Nations 2023: Ben Youngs left out of England squad to face Italy". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
22. "Rugby World Cup: Jack van Poortvliet to miss World Cup with ankle injury". BBC Sport. 14 August 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
23. Meagher, Gerard (6 September 2023). "England to name Alex Mitchell as shock scrum-half for opener with Argentina". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
24. Grey, Becky (15 October 2023). "England 30-24 Fiji: Owen Farrell's boot seals Rugby World Cup semi-final spot". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
25. Henson, Mike (22 October 2023). "England 15-16 South Africa: Springboks fightback settles World Cup semi-final". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
26. "ESPN profile". ESPN. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
27. Mann, Mantej (3 February 2024). "Six Nations 2024: Italy 24-27 England - Visitors come from behind for narrow win in Rome". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
28. Mann, Mantej (22 June 2024). "Smith stars as England cruise past Japan in Tokyo". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 January 2025.

External links

• Alex Mitchell at European Professional Club Rugby
• Alex Mitchell at ESPNscrum
• Alex Mitchell at ItsRugby.co.uk
• Northampton Saints profile