Paul Christian Sampson (born 12 July 1977) 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 ...

and

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 112 ...

player who played at

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 full-back for

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain) was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, ...

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

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

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

, plus

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

and

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

Background

Paul Sampson was born in

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bi ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England.

Early years

In 1995 Sampson was named man-of-the-match in England Schools' record 30-3 win against Australia. In the summer of 1996, he won the England Schools 100 metres title in 10.48 seconds, beating

Dwain Chambers Dwain Anthony Chambers (born 5 April 1978) is a British track sprinter. He has won international medals at World and European levels and is one of the fastest European sprinters in the history of athletics. His primary event is the 100 me ...

. In July that year he was called into the England rugby squad while still attending

Woodhouse Grove School Woodhouse Grove School ('The Grove') is an independent, co-educational, day and boarding public school and Sixth Form. it is located to the north of Apperley Bridge, West Yorkshire, England (Apperley Bridge is located in the City of Bradfor ...

.Telegraph.co.uk article from 31 December 2000
accessed 5 August 2007

Career

Sampson won his first England cap against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

at the end of the 1998 Southern hemisphere tour. He won two further caps, both against Canada on the summer North America tour in 2001. All three of his England appearances came on the wing. He also played Sevens for England. Sampson most notably played for Premiership side London Wasps between 1996 and 2004, appearing for them in over 100 games, including the victorious 1999

Anglo-Welsh Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

Final. He then played for

. He later played for five years at Championship London Welsh from 2006 to 2011, again playing over 100 matches.

Personal life

Sampson's long-term partner and wife was

Kirsty Gallacher Kirsty Jane Gallacher (born 20 January 1976) is a Scottish television presenter and model. She began her career at Sky Sports News in 1998 and hosted '' Kirsty's Home Videos'', '' RI:SE'' and '' Simply the Best'' before returning to Sky Sports ...

, by whom he has two children, Oscar and Jude. They divorced in August 2015.Kirsty Gallacher in IMDb
accessed 5 August 2007 He is the cousin of sprinter Denise Ramsden, and former

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 ...

international

Dean Sampson Dean Sampson (born 27 June 1967) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a , and spent the majority of his professional career at the Castleford Tigers ( Heritage № 661), with spells in Australia for Gold Coas ...

. Paul's father is Brian Sampson,

Malcolm Malcolm, Malcom, Máel Coluim, or Maol Choluim may refer to: People * Malcolm (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Clan Malcolm * Maol Choluim de Innerpeffray, 14th-century bishop-elect of Dunkeld Nobility * Máe ...

, and

Dave Sampson David John Bernard Sampson (9 January 1941 – 5 March 2014) was an English people, English rock music, rock singer who released a number of singles in the early 1960s on Columbia Records. Life and career Sampson was born in Uttoxeter, Stafford ...

's elder brother.

References

External links

London Welsh profileWasps profileSampson Signs For Rest Of The SeasonSetbacks spur Sampson on comeback trailA Hiding to Nothing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sampson, Paul 1977 births Living people Bath Rugby players England international rugby union players English rugby league players English rugby union players London Broncos players People educated at Woodhouse Grove School Rugby league players from Keighley Rugby union players from Keighley Rugby union wings Wakefield Trinity players Wasps RFC players Worcester Warriors players