Stuart Abbott
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Stuart Abbott MBE (born 3 June 1978) is a South African born rugby union footballer who plays centre for Wasps and England. He is a centre.
Abbott was born in Cape Town, South Africa. His mother was English. He was educated at Western Province Prep School. He took a degree in economics at Stellenbosch University and played for the Northern Free State Griffons in the Currie Cup. He later played for Western Province and South Africa U23
During the 1999 World Cup, Abbott signed for English club Leicester Tigers, who had lost several players to international duty, and made two appearances, on the recommendation of former Tigers and Springbok fly-half Joel Stransky.
He played for South African Super 12 side Stormers. In November 2001 Abbott was signed by English club Wasps. He rocketed to prominence in 2002-2003 as a prime force in the team that won the Zurich Premiership, he repeated this for 2003-2004 when the club reached the finals of both the Heineken Cup and the Zurich Premiership.
Stuart Abbott scored on his England debut when he scored one of the five tries in England’s 43-9 Rugby World Cup warm up match with Wales at the Millennium Stadium in August 2003. After impressing in a pre-World Cup trial against France, was selected in England's World Cup squad. He was selected for England's 2003 summer tour of New Zealand and Australia.
He went on to appear in three Rugby World Cup games, adding a second try in the runaway win over Uruguay. England went on to win the World Cup and with his team-mates Abbott was awarded the MBE in the 2004 New Year's honours. He missed out on the 2004 6 Nations championship through injury but showed his class for his club, earning his call up for the 2004 summer tour.
External links
- 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=1999/2000&-maxRecords=1&-search)
- sporting heroes (http://www.sporting-heroes.net/rugby-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=1591)
- Wasps bio (http://www.wasps.co.uk/sub_squaddisplay.ink?-database=squad&-response=sub_players.ink&-table=detail&-sortField=surname&-sortOrder=ascending&-op=bw&sitename=WASPS&-op=bw&type=P&-op=bw&season=2003/2004&-maxRecords=1&-search)