Ian Hunter (born in

Harrow, London Harrow () is a large town in Greater London, England, and serves as the principal settlement of the London Borough of Harrow. Lying about north-west of Charing Cross and south of Watford, the entire town including its localities had a popul ...

) is a former

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 ...

footballer who played on the

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 ...

or at full back for

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

and

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 ...

. He is married with a daughter and works as a managing director of an advertising and marketing agency in Leicester and as a part-time BBC Sport summariser. He marked the start of his career with impressive try scoring feats (2 on debut and another in his second test) but was controversially dropped from the England side after his 3rd test in favour of

Tony Underwood Tony Underwood (born 17 February 1969 in Ipoh, Malaysia) is a former English rugby union footballer who played as a wing three-quarter back. He is of Malaysian-English parentage. Rugby career His rugby talent was first nurtured at Barnard Castl ...

following the 10-9 loss to Wales. He did not feature regularly for the England side after that but played numerous games for Northampton Saints and was selected for the

1993 British Lions tour to New Zealand In 1993 the British Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand. This was the last Lions tour in the sport's amateur era. The Lions were managed by Geoff Cooke, coached by Ian McGeechan and Dick Best, and captained by Gavin Hastings. The Lions ...

. However, injury cruelly struck on the Lions Tour and he was the first player sent home through injury when he dislocated his shoulder in a tackle in the first game against Northland. His seventh and final appearance for England came against France in the 1995 World Cup. His shoulder never properly healed enough to stand the demands of top class rugby and he retired from the game in 2001. Ian was noted throughout his career for being remarkably fit - in 1993 he finished top of the England Squad on the much-vaunted VO2 test.

External links

Sporting Heroes profile
English rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England Northampton Saints players 1969 births Living people England international rugby union players Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union players from Harrow, London Carlisle RFC players {{England-rugbyunion-bio-stub