Rory Clegg
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Rory Clegg (born 6 January 1990) is a 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. He played as a
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– ...
.


Early life

Clegg was born on 6 January 1990 at the British Military Hospital in
Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
; his father was serving in the army. He attended Barnard Castle School in County Durham and played for the School first XV coached by former Harlequin, Martin Pepper. Rory started playing rugby with Darlington RFC and Barnard Castle School aged 10 and went on to represent Barnard Castle School first XV, coached by former Harlequin Martin Pepper, County Durham and the North of England at age group levels.


Career

By the time Clegg celebrated his 21st birthday in 2011, he had not only represented England at three levels, under-16, under-18 and under-20, but also played in 25 Guinness Premiership matches and scored 96 points, split between Harlequins and Newcastle Falcons. Clegg made his England Saxons’ debut for his country’s youngest Churchill Cup squad and converted 11 of the 13 tries in the 87–8 win over the USA at Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton in the opening match on 4 June 2011. He also landed all his seven kicks, five conversions and two penalty goals, despite the wind and rain, in the 41–14 win against Tonga at Kingsholm, Gloucester eight days later. The Churchill Cup final at Sixways, Worcester was against Canada, and he was named man of the match in the 37–6 victory. He began his representative career with England under-16, became the starting fly half for the unbeaten under-18 side in 2008 and played for the under-20 team in the 2009 and 2010 IRB Junior World Championships in Japan and Argentina. He has participated in overseas tours to New Zealand, with his school, with England sides to Australia, Argentina and Japan and routinely to Europe as part of European rugby cup competitions. His mentors have included Rob Andrew, Mark Mapletoft, Jonny Wilkinson, Nick Evans and Jack Frater. Spotted by Rob Andrew, Clegg launched his top-level club career for the Newcastle Falcons when 18 as deputy for the injured Jonny Wilkinson against Sale Sharks in September 2008. He landed three penalty goals in a 14–9 Guinness Premiership defeat that impressed Falcons’ director of rugby Steve Bates, who said: "He was outstanding for a youngster playing his first game against a back line full of internationals." In 2009 he moved to Harlequins and made his starting debut in the Premiership on 31 October in front of a record sell-out crowd of 14,282 at the Twickenham Stoop. In the final minute, he booted over a third penalty from the halfway line that salvaged a 9–9 draw with
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 was a replacement for Harlequins in their 2011–12 Premiership final victory over
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 ...
. He went on to make over 50 appearances for Harlequins amassing over 270 points before being lured back to Newcastle Falcons by Dean Richards. During the period January–April 2013, he was loaned to Leeds Carnegie where he played 8 games amassing a total of 80 points. Clegg joined the Falcons ahead of the 2013–14 Aviva Premiership following their promotion from the RFU Championship. His contract with the Falcons ran out at the end of the 2014–15 season. On 17 July 2015 it was announced that Clegg had secured a short term professional contract with
Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...
to provide depth and competition for places during the 2015 World Cup when the Warriors will lose a host of their top stars on Scotland duty. In November 2015 Clegg joined Top-14 side
Oyonnax Oyonnax () is the second most populated commune in the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. Oyonnax lies in a valley of the Jura Mountains in the far north of Ain. It is near the Parc naturel régional du Ha ...
when the Glasgow short-term deal ended. Having impressed in his first spell at
Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...
, Clegg re-signed with the Glasgow side on 17 March 2016 in a deal to at least May 2017. On 27 February 2017 it was announced that Clegg had joined
Ealing Trailfinders Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club is an English professional rugby union club based in West London. The club's first team are the current champions of the RFU Championship but will remain in that league due to ineligibility for promotion to Premi ...
till the end of the 2017 season.


References


External links


England ProfileLeeds Carnegie ProfileGuinness Premiership profileFour players signed ahead of new campaign
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clegg, Rory Living people 1990 births English rugby union players Newcastle Falcons players People educated at Barnard Castle School Glasgow Warriors players Oyonnax Rugby players Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club players Harlequin F.C. players Rugby union fly-halves