Kyle Eastmond

Kyle Eastmond
Personal information
Born (1989-07-17) 17 July 1989[1]
Oldham, Greater Manchester, England
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight 13 st 5 lb (85 kg)[2]
Playing information
Rugby league
Position Scrum-half, Stand-off, Centre, Fullback

Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2007–11 St. Helens 74 39 137 3 433
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2009 England 4 1 0 0 4
Rugby union
Position Centre, Fullback

Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2011–16 Bath 72 16 0 0 80
2016–2018 Wasps 23 4 0 0 20
2018– Leicester Tigers 0 0 0 0 0
Total 95 20 0 0 100
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2013– England 6 5
As of 17 August 2017
Source: [3][4]

Kyle Ovid Eastmond (born 17 July 1989)[5] is a professional rugby union who plays for Leicester Tigers in Premiership Rugby. He is a former professional rugby league footballer who played for St. Helens in the Super League, and has represented England internationally in both rugby league and rugby union. In rugby union he has also played professionally for Bath and Wasps.

Eastmond has been compared to Australian international Scott Prince, because of his darting runs to the line and a good kicking game. He has also got a keen eye for a gap in the defensive line.

Early life

Kyle attended the Parish Church CEVA School, Oldham and the Radclyffe School, Oldham.[6]

Eastmond is the cousin of former professional rugby league footballer; Miles Greenwood.[7] Kyle is also related to Sutton United's Craig Eastmond, who is his cousin. He has supported Manchester United since childhood.

Rugby League career

Early career

During high school kyle Eastmond began his rugby career playing rugby league for Oldham St Annes but in 2007, Kyle Eastmond was promoted to training with the St. Helens first team squad.

2008-09

In 2008, he was given the number 24 jersey and made a spectacular early impression in the traditional Good Friday fixture with Wigan, scoring a late try and a goal.[8] He made 13 appearances in this season scoring 6 tries. He was then compared to Jason Robinson for his general attributes, and with his size finds it easy to duck under any oncoming opposition which helped him make 778m.

Eastmond playing for Saints against the Wigan Warriors

In 2009, Kyle became an influential player for the St. Helens side. He may have played one less game than in 2008, but he scored 8 tries, 30 goals (18 more than the previous year), 7 try assists, he gained 899m and made more clean breaks. Kyle capped off an impressive year in 2009 by scoring all of Saints' 10 points in the 2009 Super League Grand Final defeat by Leeds.[9]

He was then selected for England in the 2009 Four Nations tournament and made his international début against Wales in a warm-up game. In December 2009, Eastmond signed a new two-year contract with St Helens that ended at the end of the 2011 Super League season.

2010-11

After Sean Long left St. Helens to join Hull F.C. at the end of the 2009 season, Kyle became the new number 7 for Saints. He started the year very well before injuries hit him for the 2nd half of the season. Although he still managed to make 19 appearances scoring 15 tries. He scored 63 goal kicks missing 18, and kicked 2 drop goals. He made a total of 1615m. Every time he came back from injury he seem to aggravate it. Therefore, meaning he missed the Grand Final defeat by Wigan. Matty Smith, now of Wigan, returned from his loan spell at Salford for the play-offs and featured in the final.

In early 2011 Eastmond was linked with a move to Rugby Union. Kyle started the season poorly and with fans getting on his back. However, on 28 February 2011 both the club and coach Royce Simmons, confirmed he was to leave Saints. It was revealed that Kyle had signed a three-year deal with Bath Rugby, Eastmond has promised to be 100% committed to his current club for the rest of the season.[10] Commenting on the move, Bath Director of Rugby Sir Ian McGeechan said he envisions Eastmond playing at centre.

On 16 March 2011 it was announced on the St. Helens website that he had been suspended by the club pending an investigation into serious misconduct. The club also said that no further comments will be made until the completion of the investigation. It was confirmed by the club that he made an inappropriate gesture to his home fans, and it looked unlikely he would ever play in the red V again, especially after the emergence of scrum-half sensation Jonny Lomax, and stand-off Lee Gaskell. He was dropped to the under-18s team. However injuries struck Saints, and they called upon Kyle to fill in. He was playing under difficult circumstances, with Saints fans booing him with every touch of the ball, however he made a decent return. In July 2011 he successfully made the switch from the halfbacks to fullback, scoring 2 tries against Wakefield Trinity on 9 July. Since then Kyle has regained his confidence and is playing in a similar way to the 2008-09 seasons. He has so far managed 15 appearances and scored 5 tries, but reduced to just 4 goal kicks (3 missed kicks) due to Jamie Foster replacing him as the club's kicker.

Rugby Union career

Bath

Kyle joined Bath, when he moved in October 2011, after his contract finished at Saints. At Bath he played well and picked up Rugby Union quickly meaning that in 2013, Kyle was selected to play for the England Saxons. During the 13/14 season, Eastmond formed a crucial partnership with George Ford, which led to Baths resurgence to the top of Aviva Premiership, he would then get selected for the main England side in the 2014 Autumn internationals but missed out on selection to England's World Cup squad to then Bath Club colleague Sam Burgess. After a poor season by the whole team after the World Cup he left Bath to join Wasps who were emerging as top team and had brought a new stadium in the Ricoh Arena, Coventry.

England

Eastmond was selected in the England squad to tour America in the summer of 2013. He played his first game in the uncapped match against Barbarians on 26 May 2013, scoring a try shortly after coming off the bench as a replacement.[11]

He won his first England cap as a replacement in the first test against Argentina.[12]

Eastmond made his first start for England on 15 June 2013, replacing Lions call-up Billy Twelvetrees. He scored a try in the 51-26 victory over Argentina.[13]

Leicester

On 1 August 2018 Leicester Tigers announced the signing of Eastmond.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Kyle Eastmond, saintsrlfc.com, retrieved 17 August 2017
  2. ↑ "Meet the Teams First Team Players". web page. Saints RFC. 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  3. ↑ "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  4. ↑ "England Statistics at englandrl.co.uk". englandrl.co.uk. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  5. ↑ "ESPN profile". ESPN. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  6. ↑ Roughyeds in ‘state of flux’, oldham-chronicle.co.uk, 2009-10-06, archived from the original on 2011-07-24, retrieved 2009-10-20
  7. ↑ "Rugby league: Fax is Miles better for me: Greenwood". Halifax Courier. 15 August 2008. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  8. ↑ Stott, Julie (2008-03-23), Saints look Long term in Kyle, London: thesun.co.uk, retrieved 2009-10-20
  9. ↑ St Helens 10-18 Leeds Rhinos, news.bbc.co.uk, 2008-10-10, retrieved 2009-10-20
  10. ↑ Comfrimed: Eastond to Bath Rugby Union, news.bbc.co.uk, 2011-02-28, retrieved 2011-02-28
  11. ↑ "BBC Sport - England 40-12 Barbarians: Freddie Burns shines in win". Bbc.co.uk. 2013-05-26. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  12. ↑ ChronSport (2013-06-10). "Bath Rugby back Kyle Eastmond earned his first England cap in the 32-3 victory over Argentina". Bath Chronicle. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  13. ↑ Standley, James (2013-06-15). "BBC Sport - Argentina 26-51 England". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  14. ↑ "Kyle Eastmond: Leicester sign utility back". BBC. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
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