Nick Easter

Nick Easter
Birth name Nicholas James Easter
Date of birth (1978-08-15) 15 August 1978
Place of birth Epsom, Surrey, England
Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight 115 kg (18 st 2 lb; 254 lb)[1]
Rugby union career
Position(s) Number 8
Current team Harlequins (defence coach)
Youth Career
  Old Alleynian
Villagers Club
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2001–2004
2004–2016		 Orrell
Harlequins		 75
281		 (150)
(265)
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
2007–2016
2007–2016		 England Saxons
England
54
(45)
Correct as of 10 October 2015

Nicholas James Easter (born 15 August 1978) is a former professional rugby union player, who played as a Number 8 for Orrell, Harlequins and the England national team.

He began his rugby union career in 2001, playing for Orrell, before moving to Harlequins three years later. He began playing for the England national team in 2007, playing in the 2007, 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup, as well as the annual Six Nations Championships. Aged 38, he confirmed his retirement in 2016.

Early life

Easter is the brother of Sale Sharks player Mark Easter and the nephew of author Anne Easter Smith. His father, John, played squash professionally and reached No. 1 in Britain and No. 9 in the world. His great grandfather, Pieter Le Roux, played for the Springboks. He attended the South London public school Dulwich College and Nottingham Trent University.[2]

Club career

After a period working in London, Easter moved to Rosslyn Park F.C. before moving onto Orrell. In 2004, Easter signed for Harlequins.

Easter has won the Harlequins Player of the year award four times in 2004–05, 2005–06, 2012–13 and 2014–15 season at the age of 36.

In the penultimate game of the 2013–14 season, against Bath, Nick became the most capped Harlequin in the professional era with 233 appearances.

Retirement

After 15 seasons, 54 international appearances and a record 281 appearances for Harlequins, Easter announced his retirement on 29 July 2016.

International career

Easter playing for England in the 2011 World Cup

Easter made his England debut in the 2007 Six Nations win against Italy.[3]

On 4 August 2007, Easter scored four tries as England beat Wales by a record 62–5 at Twickenham in a World Cup warm-up game.[4] Easter was the first No.8 to score four tries in one match for England.

He started 6 matches of the 2007 Rugby World Cup where he was a key influence in helping make the final.[5][6][7]

During the 2008 Six Nations[8] he was named man of match against France away in Englands 24–13 win. He also started all 5 matches of the 2009 Six Nations.[9]

On the 2010 England tour to Australia he was named man of the match in the second test victory 21–20, helping secure England's first win down under for seven years. Later that year he captained his country during the autumn internationals against Samoa which England won 26–13.

He won the 2011 Six Nations, despite England losing 24-8 to Ireland which meant they missed out on the grand slam. In spite of the defeat however, he lifted the Six Nations trophy as England ended their 8-year wait for a title.

He was involved in the 2011 Rugby Union World Cup and was reported to be the player to have reacted to England's quarter-final defeat by France in Auckland by joking: "There's £35k just gone down the toilet."

Between 2012-2014, despite being regarded as the 'best No. 8 in England', he found his road into the England squad blocked, but during that time enjoyed success with Harlequins helping them to win the Amlin Cup in 2011 and the club's first-ever English Premiership title in 2012 and LV Cup the following year.

After being in the international wilderness for just over three-years Nick was recalled to the England squad for the 2015 Six Nations. In the opening game he came on as a substitute for England in their 21–16 win over Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. In the second game, he scored a try against Italy and thus became the oldest player ever to score for England. He won his 50th cap away to Ireland.

After being overlooked for the initial 31-man England squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Easter was called up as an injury replacement for Billy Vunipola. He put in a Man of the Match performance in England's final World cup game against Uruguay, scoring 3 tries.[10]

Coaching career

Following his retirement from professional rugby, in July 2016, it was confirmed that Easter had been appointed as the new defence coach at Harlequins.

Outside rugby

Easter has appeared in three separate episodes of BBC One sport quiz programme A Question of Sport.[11]

He also appeared on an episode of Pointless Celebrities with rugby league legend Martin Offiah

References

  1. ↑ "England Elite Squad - Nick Easter". web page. RFU. 2011. Archived from the original on 16 September 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  2. ↑ "Nick Easter". Sportsvibe. 2009-02-06. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
  3. ↑ Shea, Julian (2007-02-10). "England 20–7 Italy". BBC. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
  4. ↑ Standley, James (2007-08-04). "England 62–5 Wales". BBC. Retrieved 2009-07-07.
  5. ↑ Shea, Julian (2007-10-06). "England 12–10 Australia". BBC. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
  6. ↑ Standley, James (2007-10-13). "England 14–9 France". BBC. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
  7. ↑ Standley, James (2007-10-20). "World Cup final 2007". BBC. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
  8. ↑ Gordos, Phil (2008-03-15). "Six Nations 2008". BBC. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
  9. ↑ Standley, James (2009-03-21). "2009 Six Nations". BBC. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
  10. ↑ Twickenham, Eddie Butler at (4 October 2015). "England's Rugby World Cup shambles: 10 reasons why campaign was botched - Eddie Butler". Retrieved 13 December 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.
  11. ↑ "Nick Easter - IMDb". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
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