Richard Metcalfe (born 21 November 1973 in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

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 ...

) is a former Scottish

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. He was the world's tallest ever international rugby player. At 7 feet (213 cm), Metcalfe was about six inches taller than a typical second row forward, giving him considerable presence at the front of the line-out. He won 13 Scotland caps between 2000 and 2001 and played for 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 ...

and

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

. At

he made 6 appearances for the Falcons the season they won the 1997-98 Premiership, and at Northampton he played in every game apart from the final for which he was a replacement (due to injury) in the victorious

2000 Heineken Cup Final The 2000 Heineken Cup Final was the final match of the 1999–2000 Heineken Cup, the fifth season of Europe's top club rugby union competition. The match was played on 27 May 2000 at Twickenham Stadium in London. The match was contested by Nort ...

as they defeated

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

. In 2003, however, his contract with the Borders/SRU was terminated and he retired after he suffered a long-term

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury.

Notes

1973 births Living people Rugby union players from Leeds Scottish rugby union players Edinburgh Rugby players Newcastle Falcons players Northampton Saints players Scotland international rugby union players Rugby union locks Anglo-Scots {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub

See also

Notes