Martin Corry
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Martin Edward Corry (born 12 October 1973) in Birmingham is an English rugby union footballer who plays number eight,blindside flanker or lock for Leicester Tigers, England, and has represented the British and Irish Lions.
He was educated at Tunbridge Wells Grammar School and the University of Northumbria and first played rugby union for Tunbridge Wells minis before joining Newcastle Gosforth and later Bristol. He broke his contract at Bristol to move to Leicester Tigers in ???
Martin Edward Corry has been one of Leicester’s core forwards for several seasons and an integral part of Leicester Tigers' success over this period.
During his career he has worked his way up the full representative ladder, representing England at Schools, Students, U21 and A level. He made his England debut against Argentina on the 1997 tour there with the main players playing on the 1997 British Lions tour.
Because of his ability to play either at lock, blindside or number 8, he was often selected as a replacement and used as an impact substitute. He did not start many games at Twickenham for a while, but in recent times (2005) he has made somewhat of a renaissance.
In 2001 he was called up to the British and Irish Lions side after the tour had started, due to injury and immediately impressed Graham Henry, the Lions coach. He started the first test in the absence of the injured Neil Back, and replaced the injured Richard Hill in the second before starting the third test in the absence of Hill. He burst into global prominence with startling performances in all three Test matches.
He confirmed his selection for Clive Woodward’s Rugby World Cup squad in a highly competitive back row area with a powerful late run in England’s warm-up matches – he was outstanding in the 43-9 defeat of Wales at the Millennium Stadium in late Summer of 2003 and then again in the September defeat of France at Twickenham. He was part of England's 2003 World Cup winning squad chosen ahead of team-mate Graham Rowntree. During the 2003 Rugby World Cup, Martin flew home from Australia for the birth of his first child, a daughter called Eve. He rejoined the squad just days later.
In 2005, he was named as England Captain for the Six Nations match against Italy, in the absence of Jonny Wilkinson and Jason Robinson.
External links
- Sporting heroes (http://www.sporting-heroes.net/rugby-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=483)
- Information from Leicester Tigers (http://www.tigers.co.uk/sub_squad.ink?-database=squad&-response=sub_playerdisplay.ink&-table=detail&-sortField=surname&-sortOrder=ascending&-op=bw&sitename=tigers&-op=bw&type=P&-op=bw&season=2003/2004&-maxRecords=1&-skipRecords=12&-search)