Kristian John Chesney (born 2 March 1974) is a

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 started his career at Barking RUFC, played at flanker, number 8 and

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

for Saracens (making the second-highest number of appearances for the club at 338), RC Toulon and finished his career at Southend RUFC. At an International level he has represented and Captained 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 ...

and represented

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

teams and represents the Barbarians on 3 tours. He also played

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 11 ...

for London Broncos.

Early life

Chesney was born in Ilford, North East London on 2 March 1974 and educated at the Chadwell Heath Foundation School, now known as

Chadwell Heath Academy Chadwell Heath Academy is a co-educational, independent of local authority school with academy status, located in Chadwell Heath in the London Borough of Redbridge, England. The school has approximately 1200 pupils on roll, including 300 in th ...

. Chesney did not play rugby until he was 18 because only football, basketball and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

were played at his school. It was a number of friends in his cricket club who also played rugby at Barking RFC who suggested that he give the game a try.

Playing career

Barking RFC 1993-95

Chesney developed his skills playing for Barking RFC until, on the threshold of the professional era, he moved to Saracens in 1995, having rejected overtures from Harlequins and

London Wasps Wasps Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union team. They last played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby until being suspended on 12 October 2022. On 17 October 2022 the club entered administration, resulting in r ...

. Despite his late introduction to the sport his progress was sufficiently rapid to merit inclusion in the

side.

Saracens 1995–2009

Chesney formally joined Saracens on 1 July 1995, making his début against

Shannon RFC Shannon Rugby Football Club is the most successful club in the All Ireland League, having won the competition nine times. They hail from Limerick near the banks of the Shannon river. Shannon RFC is a member of the '' Irish Rugby Football Unio ...

at the start of the 1995–96 Allied Dunbar Premiership season on 2 September of that year. Despite this early run out, first team appearances proved hard to come by and by 1998 spells on loan to Bristol Rugby and crossing codes to appear for the then London Broncos. Upon his return to Saracens first team starts came along more often and by the 1999–00 season he had become a regular with 19 appearances in the Allied Dunbar Premiership alone. After this break through Chesney rarely relinquished his position as a first choice selection other than through injury, such as the serious cruciate and medial knee ligament damage during the 2000-01 Zurich Premiership season. One of Chesney's key strengths has been the speed he can generate for his size, which was clearly an asset that was considered in his selection to play in the

team. He has been timed at 11.2 seconds over 100 metres, and demonstrated this speed in scoring a try against 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 ...

which brought him the award of Try of the Season for the

2004-05 Zurich Premiership A coxless four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four rowers, each having one oar. There are two rowers on th ...

season. Along with Richard Hill and

Kevin Sorrell Kevin James Sorrell (born 6 March 1977, in Harold Wood) was a rugby union player who played as a centre for Saracens and is now on the coaching staff as backs coach. Sorrell was selected for the senior England England is a country that ...

he formed part of a triumvirate that has been with the club through the entire professional era and still justified 33 appearances in the 2006-07 Guinness Premiership season. In the 2007-08 Guinness Premiership season Chesney passed the milestone of 300 appearances for Saracens in all competition and 150 appearances in the English Premiership.

Toulon 2009–

In 2009 Chesney decided to move to French club

RC Toulon R&C, RC, R/C, Rc, or rc may refer to: Science and technology Computing * rc, the default Command line interface in Version 10 Unix and Plan 9 from Bell Labs * .rc (for "run commands"), a filename extension for configuration files in UNIX-like ...

. On 24 March 2011 a move to Sale Sharks broke down due to Chesney's desire to stay and finish his career with

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

Southend R.F.C. 2014–

In 2014 Chesney joined Southend RFC, where he is Captain of the 1st XV. Chesney has made an immediate impact, he is now Club Captain.

References

External links

Saracens profile

Guinness Premiership profile

Times profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chesney, Kris 1974 births Living people Barbarian F.C. players Barking Rugby Football Club players English expatriate rugby union players English expatriate sportspeople in France English rugby league players English rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in France London Broncos players Rugby league players from Greater London Rugby union flankers Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Ilford Rugby union number eights Saracens F.C. players