Full name | Christopher John Simon Butcher | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 19 August 1960 | ||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Karachi, Pakistan | ||||||||||||||||
School | St Peter's (Bournemouth) | ||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||
|
Christopher John Simon Butcher (born 19 August 1960) is an English former rugby union international who represented England in three Test matches.
Born in Karachi, Butcher went to St Peter's Catholic School, Bournemouth and had two brothers (David and John) who were also good rugby players. He played for Middlesex at county level, club rugby for Harlequins and also appeared with several overseas clubs in countries including Australia and the United States. [1]
Butcher received representative honours with England Schools Under 19s and the England Under-23s, before earning a spot on the 1984 England tour of South Africa. He featured in both Tests against the Springboks, playing as a number eight. Later in the year he made a further Test appearance against the touring Wallabies at Twickenham. [2]
Barry John was a Welsh rugby union fly-half who played in the 1960s and early 1970s during the amateur era of the sport. John began his rugby career as a schoolboy playing for his local team Cefneithin RFC before switching to the first-class west Wales team Llanelli RFC in 1964. Whilst at Llanelli, John was selected for the Wales national team—as a replacement for David Watkins—to face a touring Australian team.
Sir Clive Ronald Woodward is an English former rugby union player and coach. He was coach of the England team from 1997 to 2004, managing them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He also coached the 2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, losing the test series 3–0. He is currently a pundit for ITV Sport, working on their coverage of the Six Nations and Rugby World Cup.
William John Heaton Greenwood, MBE is an English former rugby union player who played for Leicester Tigers and Harlequins and was a member of England's 2003 World Cup-winning team and the 1997 British & Irish Lions. He played in the centre, mainly as an inside centre.
Walter James Lewis AM is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. He became a commentator for television coverage of the sport. A highly decorated Australian national captain, Lewis is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever players of rugby league. His time as a player and coach was followed by a career as a sports presenter for the Nine Network.
Christopher Robert Andrew is a former English rugby union player who as a fly-half played 71 Tests for England between 1985 and 1997. Since his retirement from playing he has hold administration roles in both rugby and cricket. He was formerly the Director of Rugby of Newcastle Falcons and Professional Rugby Director at the RFU. He was Chief Executive of Sussex County Cricket Club before joining the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2024 as Managing Director of the professional game.
Benjamin Lewis Jones was a Welsh rugby union and rugby league player who played in the 1950s and 1960s. A dual-code rugby international, he won ten caps for Wales and three for the British Lions in rugby union, and two for Wales and 15 for Great Britain in rugby league.
John Edward Thornett, MBE was an Australian rugby union player, who played 37 Tests for Australia between 1955 and 1967 and made an additional 77 representative match appearances. He captained Australia in 16 Test matches and on an additional 47 tour matches on the eight international rugby tours he made with Wallaby squads.
John Anthony Gallagher is a former rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s.
Joseph Paul Lydon is an English former professional rugby league footballer and rugby union coach. He played during the 1980s and 1990s as a fullback, wing, centre, or stand-off for Widnes, Wigan and Eastern Suburbs. He also represented Lancashire, and won 30 caps for Great Britain.
Thomas Patrick David is a Welsh former dual-code international rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He was born in Pontypridd, and played representative rugby union (RU) for Wales and the British Lions and rugby league (RL) for Wales. He was selected for the 1974 British Lions tour to South Africa, and at the time played club rugby for Llanelli RFC. He also played for his home-town club Pontypridd RFC, and while at the club was part of the 1976 Grand Slam winning Wales team. In 1981 he switched codes to rugby league, representing Cardiff City Blue Dragons.
George Fairbairn is a Scottish former rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s, and coached rugby league in the 1980s and 1990s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for Borders, and at club level for Kelso RFC, and representative level rugby league (RL) for Great Britain and England, and at club level for Wigan, winning the Man of Steel Award in 1980, and Hull Kingston Rovers, as a goal-kicking fullback, and coached at representative level rugby league for Scotland, and at club level Wigan, Hull Kingston Rovers, and Huddersfield.
The 1984 England rugby union tour of South Africa was a series of seven matches played by the England national rugby union team in South Africa in May and June 1984. England played seven games, including two test matches against the South Africa national rugby union team. They won four of the seven matches but lost both of the test matches as well as drawing the fixture against Western Province.
Stephen Paul Redfern is an English former rugby union and professional rugby league player in the 1970s and 1980s. He played one test for England in 1984, and between 1976 and 1984 played club rugby for Leicester Tigers. His position was tighthead prop. He then played professional rugby league for Sheffield Eagles, but injury limited him to only 9 appearance.
William Rex Willis was a Welsh international rugby union scrum-half who played club rugby for Cardiff and invitational rugby for the Barbarians. He won 21 caps for Wales and was selected to play in the British Lions on the 1950 tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Richard Mark Harding is a former rugby union international who played for England, and on his last test captained them. He also played club rugby for his home city of Bristol and was part of Bristol RFC's cup winning side of 1983. After his sporting career he has concentrated on his profession as an estate agent and chartered surveyor.
John Basnett is an English rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for New Brighton F.C., Winnington Park and for Cheshire in the RFU County Championship competition and representative level rugby league (RL) for Great Britain, and at club level for Widnes, as a wing.
Established in 1950, the East Africa rugby union team is a multi-national rugby union team drawing players from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, though the vast majority of these came from Kenya which has traditionally been the strongest rugby playing nation in the region. The team has played against incoming international, representative and club touring sides and it conducted seven tours between 1954 and 1982.
Henry Eugene "Harry" Tancred was a rugby union and rugby league player and administrator who represented New Zealand at rugby league and Australia. He played 14 matches for New Zealand, 13 on tours of Australia in 1919 and 1921, and once in a pre-tour match against Auckland. He was an entrepreneurial businessman influential in meat wholesaling and exporting who together with his brothers, built Tancred Industries to become one of Australia's largest wholesale butchering firms. He was active in the thoroughbred industry as a racing administrator and racehorse owner.
John Anthony Palmer is an English former rugby union international who represented England in three Test matches between 1984 and 1986.