David Patrick Ward (born 21 May 1985) is an English

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player for Premiership side Harlequins, and Head Coach of

Bristol Bears Women Bristol Bears Women, formerly Clifton Ladies RFC, then Bristol Ladies, is a women's rugby union team based in Bristol, England. They are a standalone, independent rugby club, running in partnership with the Bristol Bears (formerly Bristol Rugby) s ...

. A

hooker Hooker may refer to: People * Hooker (surname) Places Antarctica * Mount Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (South Shetland Islands) New Zealand * Hooker River * Mount Hooker (New Zealand) in the Southern Alps * Hoo ...

, Ward has previously played for

Ampthill RUFC Ampthill Rugby Club is an English rugby union team based in Ampthill, Bedfordshire. The club runs six senior teams and the full range of junior sides. The first XV play in the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English rugby union system. ...

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

, Northampton Saints,

Bath Rugby Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground in the c ...

and the Cornish Pirates. At international level he has represented the England under-18s, under-21s and

Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

Club career

Born in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, Ward joined his local club

as a six-year-old, progressing all the way through to the first team for whom he made his debut as a replacement in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

against

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

in December 2004. His first start came a month later against

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Laighean) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby ...

and despite Bath losing, he was named as the Man of the Match. He made just six more appearances for the club over the next two years, and, after finding himself as fourth choice

, joined Northampton Saints on a two-year contract in 2007. He made six appearances for Saints in their 2007–08 promotion winning season, scoring four tries, but was released from his contract by the club a year early in October 2008. Days later he joined

, though he again failed to secure regular playing time, making just three appearances during the 2008–09 season. During his time with Sale the club received a one-point deduction after he came off the bench against Harlequins prior to being re-registered following a loan spell at

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He time at Sale was hampered by injury and after only one season, Ward joined Championship club Cornish Pirates in Summer 2009. He turned down a part-time contract from

Pertemps Bees There have been three rugby clubs, each one a separate legal entity, that have borne the ‘Birmingham & Solihull’ name: ◆ Birmingham & Solihull Rugby Football Club Ltd ('the first club'), founded in 1989 -as an industrial and provident ...

alongside a sales job in favour of the Pirates and later revealed that he had contemplated retirement prior to the move. He made his competitive debut against

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

in September 2009 and went on to make 33 appearances in his first season. He was ever-present in the two following years, racking up 110 appearances in his three years at the club. In April 2012 he returned to the Premiership after signing a contract with Harlequins for the 2012–13 season. His first season at

The Stoop Twickenham Stoop Stadium (informally referred to as The Stoop) is a sports stadium located in south-west London, England. The stadium is home to Harlequins rugby union team, who play in the Gallagher Premiership. The stadium has a capacity ...

followed a similar pattern to his spells with Bath, Saints and Sale, with Ward making only seven appearances, five of which came in the Anglo-Welsh Cup. His Premiership breakthrough came in 2013–14 at the age of 28 where, following injuries to regular hookers Joe Gray and Rob Buchanan, he made 31 appearances, including his first Premiership start for seven years. Over the course of the campaign he earned five Man of the Match awards and was voted the Players' Player of the Season.

International career

Ward first represented England at under-18 and under-21 level. In January 2014 he was rewarded for his club form with a call up to the

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

squad for two games against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

the Ireland Wolfhounds. He started the first game which ended in a 16–16 draw and came off the bench as the second ended in a 14–8 defeat. Four months later he was included in England's senior squad for the three Test summer tour of New Zealand. Though he was not included in the matchday 23 for any of the Tests, he was a second-half replacement in the tour game against the Crusaders which England won 38–7.

Personal life

In August 2020 Ward married Harlequins and England player Abbie Scott.

References

External links

Harlequin F.C. profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Dave 1985 births Living people Rugby union players from Bath, Somerset English rugby union coaches English rugby union players Rugby union hookers Bath Rugby players Northampton Saints players Sale Sharks players Cornish Pirates players Harlequin F.C. players