Guy Pepper (born 21 April 2003) is an English professional

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 who plays as a flanker for

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

club

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 ...

Early life

From

Eggleston Eggleston is a village in County Durham, in England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 448. It is situated in Teesdale, a few miles north-west of Barnard Castle. Etymology The second element of ''Eggleston'' is ...

, in

Teesdale Teesdale is a dale, or valley, in Northern England. The dale is in the River Tees’s drainage basin, most water flows stem from or converge into said river, including the Skerne and Leven. Upper Teesdale, more commonly just Teesdale, falls ...

, Pepper attended

Barnard Castle School Barnard Castle School (colloquially Barney School or locally the County School) is a co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day and boarding school in the market town of Barnard Castle, County Durham, in the North East Engl ...

. He was offered a place at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

in the same week in May 2021 that he signed his first professional contract with the

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

Career

Pepper trained with the academy at

during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

when matches were limited. He continued to train with Newcastle whilst also completing a degree at

. Pepper scored three tries in his first seven appearances for Newcastle prior to signing a new two-year contract with the club in April 2023. In May 2024, he was nominated for Premiership Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Season. In April 2024, Pepper agreed to join

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 ...

from the 2024-25 season, on a three-year contract.

International career

Pepper has represented England at U18 level. In January 2023 he was named in the

England U20 England national under-20 football team, also known as England Under-20s or England U20(s), represents England in association football at an under-20 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in Eng ...

squad for the first time. In February 2024 he started for the England A team in a victory over

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. On 10 March 2024, Pepper was called up to train with the senior England squad by coach

Steve Borthwick Stephen William Borthwick (born 12 October 1979) is an English rugby union coach who played lock for Bath and Saracens. At International level, he represented the senior England rugby union team between 2001 and 2010 and captained them betwe ...

for the conclusion of their 2024 Six Nations campaign.

Personal life

His father, Martin Pepper, played in the back row for Harlequins and represented England B. He is also the director of sport and second master at

where he coached in his later years as a student at a school. Guy’s brother Max Pepper has played rugby for the

Great Britain national rugby sevens team The Great Britain national rugby sevens team is the men's international rugby 7s team that is the representative team of Great Britain. After having played at the World Games in 2001 and 2005, they made their Olympic debut at the 2016 Summer ...

. Guy had to stop playing rugby for a period of time as a youngster after receiving a diagnosis of

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepper, Guy 2003 births Living people English rugby union players Bath Rugby players Newcastle Falcons players Rugby union players from Harrogate People educated at Barnard Castle School Rugby union flankers