Ben Kay
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Benedict James Kay MBE (born 14 December 1975) is a English international rugby union footballer who plays lock forward for Leicester Tigers and England.
Kay was born in Liverpool, the son of High Court Judge Sir John William Kay (1943 — 2004), which later earned him the nickname "M'lud". Ben first started playing rugby for Waterloo minis. He played for his school (Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby) and has also played for Queensland University. He represented England in the 1996 Students World Cup in South Africa and at U18, U19 and U21 level.
He joined Leicester Tigers in 1999 and first played during the world cup, with Tiger's normal locks Martin Johnson and Fritz van Heerden away with England and South Africa respectively. With the help of Johnson and van Heerden, he developed his game becoming a highly-rated middle line-out jumper, like van Heerden. He was a member of Tigers’ Heineken European Cup winning sides in 2001 and 2002 as his international career blossomed.
Having made his England A debut against France A in Blagnac in 2000 he led England A to a 23-22 win over France A at Redruth in April 2001, and was called up for England’s successful tour of North America and Japan that summer.
He made his England debut against Canada on 2 June 2001 during the summer tour that coincided with the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia. He displaced Danny Grewcock from the England side.
He confirmed his status as a core part of the England squad in the World Cup when he started in all but one of England’s games, including the final in Sydney. During the final against Australia, Kay famously knocked-on (dropped the ball forwards) in a try-scoring position when a try would have almost certainly meant an England win. Fortunately for him England won regardless.
More recently, he appeared twice as a replacement in the Autumn series in 2004.
External links
- Planet-rugby stats (http://www.planet-rugby.com/stats/players/player_details.phtml/p_r/ENG?playerCode=BKA1&search_text=Ben%20Kay&navCode=&tm1Code=%&setCode=archive)
- Rugby heroes (http://www.sporting-heroes.net/rugby-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=1314)