James Edward Staples (born 20 October 1965 in

Bermondsey Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, a ...

) 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. He played as a fullback. He had 26 caps for

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 5 tries and 2 conversions, 25 points in aggregate. He played club rugby for

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

and Harlequins. Staples alongside club colleague

Simon Geoghegan Simon Patrick Geoghegan (born 1 September 1968 in Knebworth, Hertfordshire) is an Irish former rugby union player who played at wing in England for London Irish and Bath and in the Irish Inter-provincial Championships for Connacht Rugby and the ...

also represented

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

in the Irish Provincial Championship, which at the time served as trial games for selection to the national team. Staples played at the

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...

and at the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...

. He played 5 times at the Five Nations, in 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1997. During his playing career Staples weighed 82 kg and was 1.88m in height.

External links

Jim Staples International Statistics
1965 births Living people Connacht Rugby players English rugby union players Harlequin F.C. players Ireland international rugby union players Irish Exiles rugby union players London Irish players Rugby union players from the London Borough of Southwark Rugby union fullbacks 1991 Rugby World Cup players 1995 Rugby World Cup players {{Ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub