Graham Rowntree

Infobox Rugby biography
name = Graham Rowntree


caption =
birthname = Graham Christopher Rowntree
nickname =
birthyear = 1971
birthmonth = 04
birthday = 18
placeofbirth = Stockton-on-Tees, England
height = height|ft=6|in=0
weight = 17 st 5 lbs (110 kg)
ru_position = prop|capital=yes
ru_nationalteam = England
British and Irish Lions
ru_nationalyears = 1995–2006
1997, 2005
ru_nationalcaps = 54
2
ru_nationalpoints = (0)
(0)
ru_ntupdate = 8 January 2008
ru_clubyears = 1990–2007
ru_proclubs = Leicester Tigers
ru_clubcaps = 398
ru_clubpoints = (77)
ru_clubupdate = 8 January 2008
ru_sevensupdate =
ru_coachclubs = England (asst.) Leicester Tigers (asst.)
ru_coachyears = 2007-present 2006–2007
ru_coachupdate =8 January 2008
other =
occupation =
family =
spouse =
children =
relatives =
school = John Cleveland College
university =

Graham Christopher Rowntree (born 18 April 1971) is a former English rugby union player. He played loosehead prop for Leicester Tigers and England. He was capped 54 times for England, despite having to compete for his position with the world's second most capped player, Jason Leonard.

Rowntree was born in Stockton-on-Tees. He was educated at John Cleveland College, which has produced other rugby union players, and was known as "Wiggy" because of his haircut.

In 1988 he joined Leicester Tigers from Nuneaton and made his first-team debut against Oxford University in 1990. For much of that time he was in harness with the famous ‘ABC club’ alongside Richard Cockerill and Darren Garforth.

In 1993 he made his England A, Barbarians and Midlands debuts, and on 18 March 1995 he gained his first full England cap against Scotland in the Five Nations tournament as a temporary replacement for Jason Leonard. He subsequently played in the 1995 Rugby Union World Cup. He also made the 1997 Lions tour of South Africa, playing six games and the 99 World Cup.

After the 1999 World Cup Graham was not capped for almost 2 years until a series of fine performances for his club forced him back into international contention. He was selected for the England squad to tour Canada and the USA in 2001, participated in all that season's Autumn internationals — being named as man of the match in England's 21–15 Cook Cup victory over Australia — and was capped in each of the 2002 Six Nations games.

He was prominent throughout the pre-World Cup years, starting in all of England's Six Nations games in 2002 and in England's 15–13 win over New Zealand in Wellington in 2003. He put in a particularly memorable performance against the All Blacks when England's pack was reduced to just 6 men. Despite playing in the 2003 pre-World Cup trial match in France, Rowntree was omitted from Clive Woodward's squad, which won the tournament. Clive Woodward admitted that leaving Rowntree behind was one of the hardest decisions he had to make in his time as England head coach.

Rowntree returned to the England side in the 2004 Six Nations and was the first-choice loosehead prop for the 2004 Autumn internationals.

External links

* [http://www.england-rugby.com/englandrugby/index.cfm?fuseaction=News.News_Detail&storyid=5919 England profile]
* [http://www.planet-rugby.com/stats/players/players_listing.phtml/p_r/ENG?setCode=archive&search_text=Rowntree&tournament_code=international&country=&scdate=1871&ecdate=2004&position=&sbdate=1871&ebdate=2004&go=Submit Rowntree @ Planet Rugby Player stats from Planet Rugby]
* [http://www.scrum.com/1200_1205.php?player=3673&includeref=dynamic Statistics at Scrum.com]
* [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/rugby-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=1316 Sporting heroes]