Paul Hodgson (born 25 April 1982) is an English 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 it ...

player and coach. Hodgson played as a Scrum-half and his most recent professional position was attack coach 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 ...

. He has since moved on to become director of sport at Cranmore School in West Horsley, Surrey, in September 2018 after completing his MEd, a position previously held by fellow London Irish player Barry

Everitt The Everitt was an American automobile manufactured from 1909 until 1912 by the Metzger Motor Car Company in Detroit. History This company was founded by B F Everitt and W E Metzger with money they received from Studebaker when leaving the E- ...

Early career

Hodgson attended

Glyn Technology School Glyn School is a boys' comprehensive secondary school – with a co-educational sixth form – in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in the English county of Surrey. History The school was originally called Epsom County Grammar School for Boys, wh ...

, for whom he captained the rugby 'A' team all through his academic career, and was

Head Boy Head boy and head girl are student leadership roles in schools, representing the school's entire student body. They are normally the most senior prefects in the school. The terms are commonly used in the British education system as well as in Aus ...

in his final year (2000). Hodgson played for his local rugby club Sutton & Epsom RFC from 1989 to 2001, he represented every age group at the club. Hodgson is a former England Captain at Junior level. He has also represented England at U18s and U21s level as well as playing for England 7s in the IRB World Sevens series.

Club career

Bristol Rugby

Hodgson has previously played for

Bristol Shoguns Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

. Hodgson joined the Bristol academy in the summer of 2001 and made the scrum-half berth his own. Made the step up to first team level when Agustin Pichot picked up an injury in the early part of 2002 and Hodgson had a number of games on the bench in the Premiership. After a good U21 World Cup Hodgson pledged his future to the Shoguns in Division one. Superb against Bedford in the Cup and rightly named Man of the Match and then did not look out of place against Wasps in the Cup.

London Irish

Hodgson joined

in July 2004 from

. Hodgson was voted London Irish' Most Improved Player of the Season 2005–06. Awarded Player of the Year for the 2008–09 season Same season - Sky Sports Team of the year Awarded Premiership Player of the month for September in 2010–11 season

Worcester Warriors

Paul joined

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top division of domestic ...

for the 2012–2013 season from London Irish.

International Rugby

Hodgson is an

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 ...

international. He is also an age group international captain and has been tipped to make the full

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 ...

side in the future. Hodgson was named in the England 2008 Six Nations Championship squad but has not been considered for the opening game due to a shoulder injury. He has been called into the

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

squad to face Italy A in

Ragusa Ragusa is the historical name of Dubrovnik. It may also refer to: Places Croatia * the Republic of Ragusa (or Republic of Dubrovnik), the maritime city-state of Ragusa * Cavtat (historically ' in Italian), a town in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Cro ...

, Sicily on 9 February 2008. Hodgson has been tipped by

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

pundit Stuart Barnes and

coach Brian Smith to play in the 2008 RBS Six Nations Championship match against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in Paris. Having been named in this season's

2008 RBS Six Nations Championship training squad, Hodgson was called into the senior

squad for the game against

and was an unused replacement both in Paris and Edinburgh, before finally making his debut against Ireland in England's 33–10 victory at Twickenham.

References

External links

London Irish profileEngland profileGuinness Premiership profileBristol profile
*https://web.archive.org/web/20120827035438/http://www.warriors.co.uk/warriors/matchcentre/players_warriors_first_team.php?player=4665&includeref=dynamic {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgson, Paul 1982 births Living people England international rugby union players English rugby union players Bristol Bears players London Irish players Worcester Warriors players People educated at Glyn School Rugby union players from Epsom Rugby union scrum-halves