David Strettle, (born 23 July 1983), is a former 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 ...
wing
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...
.
Early life
Strettle grew up in
Thelwall
Thelwall is a suburban village in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England, close to the Lymm junction of the M6 motorway.
History
A fortified village was established at Thelwall in 923, in the reign of King Edward the Elder, which is me ...
,
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
, attending
Lymm High School
Lymm High School is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Lymm, Warrington, Cheshire.
History
The date the school was founded is unknown, but the earliest known reference to the school is in a church document da ...
and playing for
Lymm RFC
Lymm Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team based in Lymm, Cheshire. The club runs six senior sides (including two colts teams) and a full range of junior sides, with the first XV currently playing in Regional 1 North West, a fifth ...
. Strettle then went on to study at
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield railway station, while the Collegiate Cr ...
.
Career
In the summer of 2006, Strettle joined the Harlequins from
Rotherham
Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...
, and made his club debut in the pre-season friendly against
ASM Clermont
Association Sportive Montferrandaise Clermont Auvergne () is a French rugby union club from Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes that currently competes in Top 14, the top level of the French league system. Clermont are two times French ...
on 6 August of that year.
As a teenager, he was a talented footballer, appearing on the books of
Liverpool FC
Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...
,
Manchester City
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 tw ...
and
Crewe Alexandra
Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...
. He was also a keen
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
fan.
Strettle scored a hat trick on his Rotherham debut against Rugby Lions and made his Premiership debut for the Titans against Bath in October 2003. He was Rotherham's top try-scorer in National One in the 2004–05 season scoring 18 tries in 22 appearances.
Strettle was known as "Ducks" at Harlequins after
David Duckham
David John Duckham MBE (28 June 1946 – 9 January 2023) was an English rugby union player. He played 36 games for England (scoring 10 tries), in three tests on the 1971 British Lions tour to New Zealand and for Barbarians F.C. in their 1973 ...
, a player with whom Strettle has drawn comparison, and was touted as a future England winger. He scored a hat trick in the game against Newcastle Falcons and was included in 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 the team's games against
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
and
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, scoring in both games.
Strettle was also a regular in the
England sevens
The England national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games. England's best finish in the Sevens Series is second place, which they have achieved four times, most recently i ...
squad throughout the 2005/06 IRB World Seven Series. He won a surprise call up to the England starting XV for its
2007 Six Nations
The 2007 Six Nations Championship was the eighth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 113th series of the international championship. Fifteen mat ...
game against Ireland at
Croke Park
Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and he ...
in the place of the injured
Jason Robinson, and scored England's only try in the 43–13 defeat on his debut. He also started in the win over France and the defeat to Wales.
On 2 May 2007, Strettle was named as the Professional Rugby Player's Association Young Player of the Season. He was also named in the Sky Sports Dream Team for the Guinness Premiership season 2006–07, along with fellow Harlequin and England hopeful Mike Brown. Also in May 2007, Strettle was named in the England Rugby squad to tour South Africa. Unfortunately, he came down with food poisoning along with other members of the squad, which prevented him from starting in England's 58–10 record defeat to South Africa.
On 16 August 2007, a confusing article appeared on Harlequins official site. It seemed to suggest that Strettle had crossed codes and signed for
Harlequins RL
The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England.
The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...
. The basis of the story was that he was also a registered Harlequins Rugby League club player, as many players in
Harlequins Rugby Union side were.
He returned to play for Harlequins after recovering from the injury that put him out of the
2007 Rugby World Cup
The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...
and was called up to the
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
squad for the
2008 Six Nations Championship
The 2008 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2008 RBS 6 Nations because of sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the ninth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, the 114th series of the international championship.
Fifteen ...
.
He started the game against Wales but was withdrawn early on following a metatarsal break, which ruled him out of the rest of the tournament.
It was announced on 25 March 2010 that he would be playing rugby for Saracens from the start of
2010-11 season. During his time at Saracens he won two
Premiership titles in 2011 and 2015. Strettle started both finals.
Strettle stayed with Saracens for a further four seasons, scoring 49 tries, until it was announced he would be playing for the French side
Clermont Auvergne
Association Sportive Montferrandaise Clermont Auvergne () is a French rugby union club from Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes that currently competes in Top 14, the top level of the French league system. Clermont are two times French ...
, beginning from the 2015-16
Top 14
The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...
season.
On 25 January 2018, Strettle re-signed with
Saracens
file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens
Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...
on a one-year contract, from the 2018-19 season. Upon his return to Saracens he helped them win the
2018–19 European Rugby Champions Cup
The 2018–19 European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the fifth season of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the annual club rugby union competition run by European Professional Club Rugby (ECPR ...
, in the final of which he was a replacement. He was also a replacement as Saracens won the 2019 Premiership final.
Personal life
Strettle is an aficionado of
Football Manager
''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...
, and sees himself as having the knack for "picking up players on the cheap and turning them into the new
Rooney Rooney may refer to:
People
*Wayne Rooney, English football manager and former player
*Rooney family, of the Pittsburgh Steelers American football franchise
*Rooney (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
* Rooney (given nam ...
or
Henry
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
*Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
". This was an idea he floated to the Saracens coaching staff after a serious injury to flyhalf Derick Hougaard and resulted in Venter bringing in Owen Farrell at 10. He recently boasted of his ability to turn
West Ham
West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham.
The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...
into a top European team within 2 to 3 seasons, while also stating that he was a "world class football manager".
Strettle's England teammates gave Strettle a new nickname during the 2007 Six Nations Championship. During training sessions, fellow players called him 'The Milkman' as he was known to always deliver a great performance during matches. This was revealed in a post-match interview after England's loss to Ireland.
International tries
References
External links
Clermont Auvergne profile*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strettle, David
1983 births
Living people
Alumni of Sheffield Hallam University
England international rugby union players
English rugby union players
Harlequin F.C. players
People from Grappenhall and Thelwall
People from Lymm
Rotherham Titans players
Rugby union players from Cheshire
Rugby union wings