Paul William Volley (born 2 November 1971 in

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

) 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 its m ...

player. As an open-side flanker, he played for

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 ...

for 16 years. He joined as a 16-year-old from

Chinnor Chinnor is a large village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Oxfordshire about southeast of Thame, close to the border with Buckinghamshire. The village is a spring line settlement on the Icknield Way below the Chiltern Hills ...

. Volley was first called up to the senior England squad by

Clive Woodward Sir Clive Ronald Woodward (born 6 January 1956) is an English former rugby union player and coach. He was coach of the team from 1997 to 2004, managing them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He also coached the 2005 British & Irish Lions ...

for the

2000 England rugby union tour of South Africa Matches :''Scores and results list England's points tally first.'' Touring party *Manager: Clive Woodward *Assistant Manager: Andy Robinson *Captain: Martin Johnson Full back Matt Perry (Bath Rugby), Tim Stimpson (Leicester Tigers), Rob T ...

, and then again for the

2003 England rugby union tour of Australasia Matches :''Scores and results list England's points tally first.'' The test with All Blacks New Zealand: 15. Doug Howlett, 14.Joe Rokocoko, 13.Ma'a Nonu, 12.Tana Umaga, 11.Caleb Ralph, 10.Carlos Spencer, 9.Justin Marshall, 8.Rodney So'oialo ...

. However he was ultimately never capped at this level. He was also selected for England A on numerous occasions. He won Domestic and European competitions with London Wasps. This included helping them win the

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 ...

in 1999 and 2000; he was a replacement in the 1999 final but started in 2000. He also played in the 2002–03 Premiership Final and the 2003–04 Premiership Final, both of which were won by Wasps. After winning both the

Zurich Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

and

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 ...

with Wasps in 2004, he headed across the Channel to play for

Castres Olympique Castres Olympique () is a French rugby union club located in the Occitanian city of Castres and is currently competing in the top level of the French league system. Founded in 1898, the club took its current name in 1906. They play at the Sta ...

in France. He then returned to play for and captain Wasps' London rivals, Harlequins in 2006. In 2008 he signed a 2-year deal to play for

RFU Championship 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 ...

side London Scottish. After retiring from professional rugby, Volley began a new career in financial services.

References

External links

London Scottish profileHarlequins profileWasps profileProfile from Sky SportWasps Zurich Premiership win from BBCStatistics at scrum.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volley, Paul 1971 births Living people Castres Olympique players English rugby union players Harlequin F.C. players London Scottish F.C. players Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Beckenham Wasps RFC players