David Flatman

David Flatman
Birth name David Luke Flatman
Date of birth (1980-01-21) 21 January 1980
Place of birth Ashford, Kent, England
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 120 kg (18 st 13 lb)[1]
School Maidstone Grammar School
Dulwich College
Maplesden Noakes
Rugby union career
Position(s) Prop
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1998–2001
2003–2012		 Saracens
Bath		 109
156		 (0)
(5)
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
2000–2002 England 8 (0)

David Luke Flatman (born 21 January 1980)[2] is an English sports pundit and former rugby union player who played prop. Flatman represented England eight times between 2000 and 2002, playing club rugby for Saracens and Bath. Flatman is routinely referred to by his nickname Flats.

Career

Early life

Born in Maidstone he started playing rugby union at the age of eight at his local club, Maidstone FC, inspired by his father, who was a prop. A product of Dulwich College, he appeared in the same England Schools (18-group) squad as Steve Borthwick, Andrew Sheridan (also of Dulwich College), Alex Sanderson, Mike Tindall and Jonny Wilkinson.

Flatman toured Australia with England Schools in 1997 and the following year went to Argentina with England Colts. He represented London & South-West and England Under-21s against South Africa in the autumn of 1998.

Senior career

His senior club rugby began with Saracens in 1998. He won his first cap for England as a replacement against South Africa on 17 June 2000, England lost 18–13;[3] he also appeared in the tour matches against North-West Leopards and Gauteng Falcons.

He made a second tour with the England side to North America in the summer of 2001, appearing as a replacement for Graham Rowntree in the Burnaby and San Francisco Tests against Canada and the United States respectively. He was a regular in the England A side since making his debut against France in Blagnac in 2000. He had a sequence of seven England A team games before being recalled to the senior squad for the final test of the 2000–1 season against France at Twickenham.

He moved to Bath in 2003, where he proved himself to be one of the finest front row forwards in English rugby union with his sterling performances in a revamped Bath pack.

Retirement

Flatman announced his retirement from rugby in June 2012. In all he won eight England Caps [4]

Media career

Following the end of his playing career, he was Head of Communications at Bath Rugby for two years; he left this role in 2014.[5]

Flatman now works as a pundit for Channel 5, ITV & BT Sport often alongside Mark Durden-Smith and Austin Healey. He presents a humorous and informative rugby podcast with his former Saracens teammate Tom Shanklin, called Flats and Shanks. In 2016 the Daily Telegraph named him as the fifth best sports pundit on British TV.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Aviva Premiership Rugby - Bath Rugby". web page. Premier Rugby. Archived from the original on 16 June 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  2. ↑ "David Flatman". ESPN. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  3. ↑ "South Africa (15) 18 - 13 (10) England (FT)". ESPN. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  4. ↑ https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/news-comment/david-flatman-over-and-out-7856527.html
  5. ↑ Beck, Neil (23 June 2014). "David Flatman leaves role as Bath Rugby communications director". Bath Chronicle. Local World. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "The 20 best sport pundits on television right now". Daily Telegraph. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
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