| Birth name | Austin Sean Healey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 26 October 1973 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Wallasey, Cheshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 13 st 10 lb (87 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Austin Sean Healey (born 26 October 1973 in Wallasey (now part of Merseyside, formerly Cheshire), is a former English rugby union player who played as a utility back for Leicester Tigers, and represented both England and the British & Irish Lions.
He has 51 England caps and 2 Lions caps. He played for England at scrum half, fly-half, fullback and wing, and was often used as a replacement (or substitute) because of his versatility. He is a famously competitive and "outspoken" character, gaining the nickname "The Leicester Lip". [1]
Since retiring he has worked in the media.
 | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(September 2014) |
Austin attended Bidston Avenue Primary School in Claughton, Birkenhead, during his primary years. He passed the entrance exam and attended St Anselm's College, Birkenhead (Edmund Rice Trust) then Leeds Polytechnic.
His Youth Rugby was with Birkenhead Park FC where he returned with His Big Tackle Programme in 2009 which featured Park's Junior Colts.
Healey played for England U21 in 1992 and went on to represent England A and the Barbarians '96 tour of Japan. After spells at Waterloo [ citation needed ] and Orrell, Healey initially signed for Leicester as a scrum half, having played at wing and outside centre for Orrell. He made his full England début against Ireland during the 1997 Five Nations tournament, and toured with the British Lions in 1997, making two appearances.
He has played in the Five/Six Nations tournaments (‘98-'02) and in the 1999 World Cup. In the 1999/00 season he was voted both Leicester Tigers' and Allied Dunbar's Player of the Season. [ citation needed ]
Leicester coach Bob Dwyer switched him to the wing to accommodate Fijian Waisale Serevi at scrum half. Healey was then selected on the wing for England.
After an injury to Tigers' South African fly-half Joel Stransky, and the unsuitability of others such as Pat Howard and Andy Goode to fill the role, Healey was switched to fly-half.[ citation needed ] In this position, however, he was unable to make much of an international impression, his sole appearance at fly-half coming in the 2000 tour to South Africa in the first test, after Jonny Wilkinson fell victim to food poisoning.
In 2001 he made the break during the Heineken Cup final that resulted in the winning try - Healey had started the match at scrum half with Andy Goode at 10, but was switched to fly-half in the closing minutes. [2] He also scored the second and decisive try against Munster when Tigers retained the cup the following year. [3]
His form for Tigers during the 2001 season, was rewarded with a call up to England's starting line-up during the Six Nations, and selection for the British & Irish Lions squad to tour Australia, where he put in some good performances for the mid-week team but missed out on further caps due to injury.
However, for many people the abiding memory of this tour will be the controversy caused by his comments on Wallaby lock Justin Harrison in his column in the Guardian . [4] [5] The comments backfired after Harrison was selected to make his debut for the Third and deciding test of the series, and stole a crucial lineout - sealing the series victory for Australia. There was some suggestion that Healey's comments had served as motivation for the Wallabies team.
On his return from Australia he played in every game for England until he was rested for the summer 2002 tour to Argentina, showing his versatility by starting at fullback, scrum half, and wing and came on twice as a replacement.
He returned to international action appearing as a replacement in all three of the following season's autumn internationals when England recorded a series of victories over Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Healey flew out to Australia as injury cover for the victorious 2003 Rugby World Cup, however he was never officially added to the squad after certain players recovered, meaning he was unable to pick up a medal for the success despite flying out to Australia. [6]
| This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(March 2015) |
In the 2004/05 season Healey hit form again, and with the failings of the England backline, there were calls for him to be reinstated to ignite it. England coach Andy Robinson humoured the press that there was a chance of a recall, but it never came. Instead Healey turned his attention to the 2005 Lions' tour. He was included in the long list, but not the tour party (having not played international rugby for 3 years). He wrote a column for the Guardian on the tour, which included the quote 'Have you heard the latest from the Lions' camp? Clive's sending Andy Robinson to a fancy dress party tonight. He's going as a pumpkin, they're hoping when it gets to midnight he'll turn into a real coach!'
Tigers finished top of the league. A notable performance for Healey was Away at Wasps, where he scored in the last minute to steal a draw. However, Wasps hammered Tigers in the final. In the 05/06 season, Healey was handed club vice-captaincy and regularly captained the team from scrum half and fly half during the international period. He looked back to near his best form and pressed both Harry Ellis and Andy Goode out of their respective regular slots of 9 and 10 at different times throughout the season. Leicester made the premiership final again and were beaten by Sale Sharks, Healey claims to have thrown his silver medal away in disgust at the end of the game, claiming that he didn't do 'losers medals'.
Following retirement from Leicester Tigers at the end of the 2005/6 season, Healey planned to start a new career as a banker with Credit Suisse and to also continue working as a BBC analyst. [ citation needed ]
Healey competed in the sixth series of the BBC competition series Strictly Come Dancing with professional dancer Erin Boag. He was eliminated in week 12 of the competition to come 4th overall.
He joined Gary Lineker on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Christmas Special, on 23 December 2008. Together they won £50,000 for their chosen charity - Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation.
Healey presented The Big Tackle on ITV in March 2009, [7] aimed at promoting and assisting rugby clubs around the country. In January 2009, he obtained his basic coaching qualifications, [8] in order to put him in a better position from which to advise clubs. During the filming, he returned to his roots and visited his former local club, Birkenhead Park. Some of the other teams that he coached on the series included; Bristol Barbarians, Witney Angels RFC, Rosslyn Park, and University of Sussex.
He competed on show one of the new series of Beat the Star in April 2009. He won 4/8 games, and ended up with 22 points overall, beating his opponent; Factory Manager, Glenn Clarke, who had 14 points overall.
Healey appeared as one of the team captains for the second series of Hole in the Wall along with ex-EastEnders star Joe Swash. [9]
Austin is the host of the ITV gameshow The Fuse , which began on 13 July 2009.
He also appeared on BBC gameshow, Mastermind , on 4 January 2013. His specialist subject was Everton Football Club .
Healey's autobiography, Lions, Tigers and Roses, was published by Oxford University Press in 2001. [10]
Martin Osborne Johnson CBE is an English retired rugby union player who represented and captained England and Leicester in a career spanning 16 seasons. He captained England to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and is regarded as one of the greatest locks ever to have played, and one of England's greatest ever players.
Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union.
Neil Antony Back MBE is a former international rugby union footballer for England and the British & Irish Lions who also played for Nottingham RFC, Leicester Tigers, and captained both England and Leicester during his career.
Timothy Richard George Stimpson is a former rugby union international full back. During his career he played for Wakefield, West Hartlepool, Newcastle Falcons, Leicester Tigers, Perpignan, Leeds Tykes and Nottingham, England and the British and Irish Lions. His international career was a start-stop affair, however, he excelled at club level. In particular, during his five-year spell at Leicester Tigers between 1998 and 2003, as a goalkicker, he was an integral part of the dominant Leicester side that won the league four times in succession to add to back-to-back Heineken Cup, becoming the Premiership's top points scorer in the process.
Graham Christopher Rowntree is an English rugby union former player and current head coach of Irish club Munster. He played loosehead prop for Leicester Tigers and England. He was capped 54 times for England, despite having to compete for his position with one of the world's most capped forwards, Jason Leonard. Rowntree was born in Stockton-on-Tees. He was educated at John Cleveland College, Hinckley, Leicestershire, which has also produced other rugby union players.
The 2000–01 Heineken Cup was the sixth edition of the Heineken Cup, a rugby union tournament. Competing teams from France, Ireland, Italy, Wales, England and Scotland, were divided into six pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other. The pool winners and two best runners-up qualified for the knock-out stages.
Matthew James Sutherland Dawson, MBE is an English retired rugby union player who played scrum half for Northampton Saints and then London Wasps. During his international career he toured with the British & Irish Lions three times and was part of England's 2003 Rugby World Cup winning side. He won 77 caps for his country in total, including nine as captain and was England's most capped scrum half until passed by Danny Care.
Harry Alistair Ellis is an English former rugby union footballer who played scrum half for Leicester Tigers, England and the British & Irish Lions.
Andrew James Goode is a sports pundit and retired rugby union player. Goode had an 18-year professional career playing over 400 games and scoring over 4,000 points. He played professionally in England, France and South Africa featuring for Leicester Tigers, Saracens, Worcester Warriors, Wasps and Newcastle Falcons in England's Premiership Rugby, CA Brive in France's Top 14 and for Super Rugby's Sharks in South Africa. Goode represented England 17 times between 2005 and 2009 scoring 107 points.
Peter Charles Richards is a former English rugby union player. A versatile player, he has played in three positions: scrum half, fly-half and centre. Richards retired in the summer of 2010 because of a back injury. As of May 2015, Richards became head coach at London Scottish.
Tobias Gerald Albert Cecil Lieven Flood is an English rugby union coach and former player. He is currently kicking and skills coach at Newcastle Falcons in Premiership Rugby. During his playing career his position was fly half or inside centre. He played over 300 games in his club career across his three professional clubs, Newcastle Falcons, Toulouse and Leicester Tigers. He played 60 international matches for England between 2006 and 2014.
Samuel Brook Vesty is an English rugby union player and coach. He is currently the Head Coach of Northampton Saints. He played utility back principally for Leicester Tigers. He has also had coaching roles principally at Worcester Warriors.
Mike Brown is an English professional rugby union player who plays fullback or wing for Leicester Tigers in Premiership Rugby. Brown joined the Harlequins senior team in 2005, having played youth rugby at Salisbury and Melksham, and began playing for the England first team two years later. Between 2021–2022 Brown played a season for Newcastle Falcons.
Thomas Nicholas Youngs is a retired rugby union player who played as a hooker for Leicester Tigers and England. Between 2012–2015 he won 28 caps for England, including selection for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and was selected for the 2013 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia where he played in all three test matches. He played 215 times for Leicester between 2006 and 2021, winning the Premiership Rugby title in 2013, the same season that he was named as the league's Player of the season. He also won the 2011-12 Anglo-Welsh Cup with Leicester. Between 2009 and 2011 Youngs played 55 matches for Nottingham where he converted from centre to hooker.
Benjamin Ryder Youngs is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Premiership Rugby club Leicester Tigers, and is the all time appearance record holder with 127 caps for the England national team.
Owen Andrew O'Loughlin Farrell is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a fly-half for Premiership Rugby club Saracens.
The 2001 Heineken Cup Final was the final match of the 2000–01 Heineken Cup, the sixth season of Europe's top club rugby union competition. The match was played on 19 May 2001 at the Parc des Princes in Paris. The match was contested by Stade Français of France and Leicester Tigers of England. Leicester Tigers won the match 34–30.
William Wesley Twelvetrees is a rugby union footballer who currently plays centre or fly-half for Ealing Trailfinders and formerly played as inside centre for the England national rugby team.
George Thomas Ford is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a fly-half for Premiership Rugby club Sale Sharks and the England national team.
Jack Corstiaan van Poortvliet is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Premiership Rugby club Leicester Tigers and the England national team.
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(February 2009) |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
