Mark Woodrow (born 16 September 1980) is an 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 ...

player-coach for Dings Crusaders currently playing in the English

National League 3 South West Regional 1 South West (formerly South West Premier and National League 3 South West) is a level five league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When this division began in 1987 it was known as South West D ...

. His position of choice is

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

. Mark has played for eleven English national league clubs in addition to appearing for both Paternope (Naples) and later Viadana in the Italian leagues. He is a former

England Counties XV England Counties XV is a representative rugby union team, formed in 2002, open to English players who play in the County Championship and the third tier (and below) of the English rugby union system. Players from the Premiership and RFU Champi ...

international and has previously been involved with England Sevens. Renowned as a prolific and highly accurate points kicker, over his career he has made 300 appearances in English club rugby, scoring 2,613 points as of the end of the 2014-15 season.

Early career

Growing up in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, Mark played youth rugby union for Dings Crusaders from the age of 10. He made his adult debut during the 2002-03 season, playing with Dings in South West Division 1 as well as a spell with Newbury Blues in

National Division Two National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

. During his early career Mark also had a brief stint with

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

as well as a season at Bath U21s. In 2003 Mark was called up the

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

county side and helped them to reach the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

final at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

where they lost a close match 18 - 24 to

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. His impressive performances for Gloucestershire saw him sign a semi-professional contract with

Pertemps Bees There have been three rugby clubs, each one a separate legal entity, that have borne the ‘Birmingham & Solihull’ name: ◆ Birmingham & Solihull Rugby Football Club Ltd ('the first club'), founded in 1989 -as an industrial and provident ...

(now known as Birmingham & Solihull) playing in

National Division One The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

under the tutelage of Phil Maynard for the 2003-04 season. His first season at the Bees was a highly successful one as he helped the side to a very respectable 4th place in the league and was influential in the club's shock

Powergen Cup The RFU Knockout Cup was an English rugby union competition open to any member of the Rugby Football Union. First contested in 1971, it was the premier competition in English club rugby before the establishment of the English league structure in 1 ...

defeat of

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 ...

at the Causeway Stadium in February 2004, kicking 18 points in a 28 - 24 victory in what was the greatest upset in English club cup history. Although he started the 2004-05 season for Pertemps Bees, during the latter half of the season Mark moved to

where he signed professional terms. After being a key player at the Bees he was unable to become a first team regular at Bristol in a period where he also played for Italian outfit Napoli and he left to join

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

for the 2005-06 season but was no more than a squad player at the Midlands side. Mark made it four clubs in just three seasons for the 2006-07 season when he moved up north to play for

Doncaster Knights Doncaster Rugby Football Club are a rugby union club representing the town of Doncaster, England. The first XV are known as the "Doncaster Knights", and play in the RFU Championship. Being the most promoted side in English history has led to ...

. It was fourth time lucky as Mark became a regular at Castle Park, helping the Yorkshire side to 3rd place in a competitive division as well as winning the 2007 Yorkshire Cup, scoring over 200 points in league and cup games. His good season was rewarded with a call up to the

for their tour of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. He stayed a further season with Doncaster for the 2007-08 season as the side finished 4th in the league and he scored 266 points in all competitions. He was also an unused substitute during the 2008 Yorkshire Cup final which saw Doncaster retain the trophy.

Back and forth with Bees

Mark rejoined Birmingham & Solihull (formerly Pertemps Bees), dropping down a division to

(which Bees had just been relegated to) for the 2008-2009 season. Both he and his club had an absolutely fantastic season as Bees made an instant return to the (newly named)

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

by winning the league title and Mark was the top points scorer in the division with 373 points (his best points tally in a season so far). On the back of his season with Birmingham & Solihull, Mark also represented

in the 2009

, reaching his second county final at

but once again losing out to

. During the summer, Mark was called up by the

for their tour of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. Mark's second season with the club was not so successful as the club suffered cash issues and struggled in the

2009–10 RFU Championship The 2009–10 RFU Championship was the 1st season (of the professionalised format) of the second division of the English domestic rugby union competitions, played between August 2009 and May 2010. The league had been restructured from the 16 team ...

. Part way through the season he left to join Italian side

Rugby Viadana Rugby Viadana 1970 is an Italian rugby union club based in Viadana (province of Mantua, Lombardy). The club was established in 1970, and has since won the Italian championship in 2002, and the Coppa Italia three times. They also compete in Europ ...

having had prior experience in the country due to an earlier spell at Napoli. At Viadana he gained

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

experience in the fixture versus

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

and regularly started at fly-half in the

Super 10 The Super 10 was a rugby union football tournament featuring ten teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Tonga, and Western Samoa. The competition ran for three years from 1993 to 1995 and was the predecessor of Super 12 and Super 14, ...

scoring 127 points and helping his side to the championship final which they lost to Benetton Treviso 12 - 16. After a year spent in Italy, Mark returned to England to play for

Cinderford Cinderford is a town and civil parish on the eastern fringe of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. The population was 8,777 at the 2021 Census. The town came into existence in the 19th century, following the rapid expansion of Cind ...

playing in the

2010–11 National League 1 The 2010–11 National League 1 is the second season of the National League 1, third division of the English domestic rugby union competitions since the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, second division was introduced. Coventry R. ...

. His spell with the south-west club was a brief one as by October he returned to Birmingham & Solihull for the 2010–11 RFU Championship in what was his third spell with the club. Birmingham & Solihull had endured a tricky past season, narrowly avoiding relegation thanks to coming second in Championship's new format relegation group (they would have been relegated had regular season games counted). Although Mark got games for the club and was a regular points scorer, the Bees were unable to stay up this time and were relegated by the end of the season. Following Birmingham & Solihull's relegation Mark signed for nearby

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 20 ...

at the start of the 2011-2012 season making 13 league appearances in

National League 1 National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

and scoring 94 points. Despite being a regular at Stourbridge, Mark decided to rejoin old club Birmingham & Solihull for the fourth time during the second half of the season. He would finish as third top points scorer in the division from his two club spell but these points were ultimately not enough to help either side as both the Bees and Stourbridge were relegated.

Return to Dings

After the disappointment of relegation with Birmingham & Solihull, Mark returned to his home town

to sign for the club of his youth, Dings Crusaders, where he would play as a player-coach. Mark made an instant impact at Dings, helping them to consecutive mid-table finishes in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons and being the divisions top points scorer in 2013. Despite finishing mid-table the two previous season the 2014-15 season was not a good one for Mark or Dings. Although he once more was one of the division's top scorers, his points could not keep Dings afloat and they were the first side to be relegated, dropping down to

. Despite relegation, Dings did gain some silverware, Mark being part of the Dings side which beat Cleve in the final of the Bristol Combination Cup.

International career

Internationally Woodrow has been capped by the

for the 2007 and 2009 tours. In 2008 he was named in the England Sevens training squad although was not selected to play. This is where he gained the nickname 'Splinter' after spending all of his time on the bench.

Season-by-season playing stats

Club Honours

Doncaster Knights * Yorkshire Cup winners (2 times): 2007, 2008 Pertemps Bees/Birmingham & Solihull * National League Two champions: 2008-09 * National League Two top points scorer (373 points): 2008-09 Viadana *

runners up: 2009-10 Dings Crusaders *

National League 2 South National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the English rugby union system until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart, N ...

top points scorer (289 points): 2012-13 *Bristol Combination Cup winners: 2015

County / Representative Honours

runners-up with

(2 times): 2003, 2009 *Represented

: 2007, 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodrow, Mark 1980 births Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C. players Cinderford R.F.C. players Doncaster R.F.C. players Gloucestershire County RFU players Living people Stourbridge R.F.C. players Rugby union fly-halves English rugby union players Rugby Viadana players English expatriate rugby union players in Italy