Neil Fletcher (rugby union)

Last updated

Neil Fletcher
Birth nameNeil Robert Fletcher
Date of birth (1976-06-04) 4 June 1976 (age 47)
Place of birth Walsall, England
Height6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight224 lb (16 st 0 lb; 102 kg)
School Hydesville Tower School
Rugby union career
Position(s) Lock
Senior career
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1996–1999 Leicester Tigers 42 (5)
1999–2001 Sale Sharks 11 (0)
2001–2004 Birmingham & Solihull 57 (15)
1996–2004Total110(20)

Neil Robert Fletcher (born 4 June 1976) [1] is a former rugby union lock who played 42 games for Leicester Tigers from 1996 to 1999, [2] and 11 games for Sale Sharks. He was an unused replacement in the 1997 Heineken Cup Final.

Contents

Leicester

Fletcher made his Leicester debut on 5 October 1996 in a Courage League match against West Hartlepool, and featured in 20 of 24 matchday squads towards the end of that season including the 1997 Heineken Cup Final. [3] He struggled for game time in 1997-98 featuring only 4 times, but was regularly used during the 1998-99 Premiership Rugby season where he featured 17 times as Leicester won the title. [4] On Saturday 25 September 1999 he was sent off in a Premiership game at Welford Road against Sale. [5] He made his final appearance for Leicester the next week in a match against Gloucester. [6]

Sale

After the end of the 1999 Rugby World Cup Fletcher fell down the pecking order at Leicester and moved to Sale initially on loan. He made his debut for Sale against Bedford on 26 December. On 25 July 2000 he made the move to Sale permanent. [7] He left Sale after the 2000-01 season.

Birmingham & Solihull

Fletcher joined second division club Birmingham & Solihull for the 2001-02 season and made headlines by "exposing himself" in an official team picture used on the front cover of the club's official match programme. [8]

Sources

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leicester Tigers</span> English rugby union club, based in Leicester

Leicester Tigers are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Johnson (rugby union)</span> British Lions & England international rugby union player & coach

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newcastle Falcons</span> English rugby union club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Corry (rugby union)</span> British Lions & England international rugby union player

Martin Edward Corry MBE is a retired English rugby union player who represented and captained England and Leicester Tigers in a career spanning 14 seasons. Corry played 64 times for England between 1997 and 2007, played 7 tests for the British & Irish Lions on tours in 2001 & 2005, and played 290 times for Leicester between 1997 and 2009. Earlier in his career he played top division rugby for Newcastle Gosforth and Bristol. A versatile player his principal positions were number eight and blindside flanker, he also played lock more as his career progressed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis Moody</span> British Lions & England international rugby union player

Lewis Walton Moody MBE is an English retired rugby union player. He played for Leicester Tigers and Bath Rugby and was part of the 2003 World Cup winning side.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Goode</span> England international rugby union player

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Stringer</span> Irish rugby player

Peter Alexander Stringer is an Irish former rugby union player who played at scrum-half. He played 13 seasons with Irish province Munster from 1998 to 2011; he then played seven seasons from 2011 to 2018 in England with various teams — Saracens, Newcastle Falcons, Bath, Sale Sharks and Worcester Warriors. Internationally, Stringer represented Ireland and the Barbarians. He announced his retirement from rugby in June 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sébastien Chabal</span> French rugby union player

Sébastien Chabal is a French former rugby union player. He played number eight and lock for Bourgoin (1998–2004), Sale Sharks (2004–2009), Racing Métro 92 Paris, and for the French national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe</span> Argentine rugby player

Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe is an Argentine rugby union footballer. He played for Toulon in the French Top 14, having moved from Sale Sharks in England's Guinness Premiership. He previously played for Liceo Naval. He usually plays in the back row.

Stuart Potter is a retired rugby union centre who played for Nottingham, Leicester Tigers and England. Potter won both the league and cup with Leicester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Wigglesworth (rugby union)</span> England international rugby union player

Richard Eric Peter Wigglesworth is an English rugby union coach and former professional player. He is the record appearance maker for Premiership Rugby, he played for Sale Sharks, Saracens and Leicester Tigers. He has won Seven Premiership titles, one with Sale, five with Saracens, and one with Leicester as well as three European Rugby Champions Cups with Saracens. Between 2008 and 2018 he won 33 caps for England. In his career he has played over 400 club games.

Joe Ward is a rugby union footballer who plays at hooker for Sale Sharks in the Aviva Premiership after signing from London Wasps in the Summer of 2011.

Dean Richards is a rugby union coach and former player for Leicester Tigers, England and British & Irish Lions. He was most recently the Director of Rugby at Newcastle Falcons, a position he held for ten years between 2012 and 2022.

The 2008–09 Guinness Premiership was the 22nd season of the top flight of the English domestic rugby union competitions, played between September 2008 and May 2009. Round 1 included the London Double Header at Twickenham, between the four London teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sale Sharks</span> English rugby union club

Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Ford (rugby union)</span> England international rugby union footballer

George Thomas Ford is an English professional rugby union player who plays at fly-half for Sale Sharks and England. Ford made his debut for Leicester in 2009 and between 2013–2017 played for Bath, before re-joining Leicester, until 2021 when he signed for Sale Sharks for the 2022–23 Premiership season. Ford made his England debut in 2014, was selected for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, and started the 2019 Rugby World Cup Final. He won Premiership Rugby titles in 2013 and 2022 for Leicester, and was a finalist in 2012 and 2015 for Leicester and Bath respectively.

Ernst Joubert is a South African former rugby union player. He played at Number Eight for Saracens in the Aviva Premiership from 2009 to 2015 and was the vice captain of the team. He retired from all rugby at the end of November 2015.

The history of Sale Sharks dates back to the club's founding in 1861 and is one of the oldest clubs in English rugby. Throughout their history, the Sale Sharks have been one of the leading rugby union clubs in the North of England.

History of Leicester Tigers details the history of the rugby union club based in Leicester, England. Nicknamed the Tigers from 1885, Leicester have been a prominent club from the earliest days of organised English rugby dominating midlands rugby before the First World War; providing British Lions captains in 1930, 1936, 1997 and 2001; and winning 21 major titles since 1979 including a record 11 Premiership Rugby titles.

Stephen Thomas Hackney is an English former rugby union player. A wing he played in England's top division of domestic rugby union for Nottingham and Leicester Tigers, and also played in the second division for Moseley and Waterloo.

References

  1. ↑ "Matt Poole". ESPNscrum. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  2. ↑ Farmer & Hands 2014, p. 433.
  3. ↑ Farmer & Hands 2014, p. 256.
  4. ↑ Farmer & Hands 2014, p. 264.
  5. ↑ David Llewellyn (25 September 1999). "Rugby Union: Fletcher's red card fires cubs" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  6. ↑ Farmer & Hands 2014, p. 271.
  7. ↑ "Ambitious Sharks snap up Fletcher". ESPN. 25 July 2000. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  8. ↑ "Fletcher's flash requires cover-up". The Telegraph. 8 September 2001. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.