Tom Johnson (born 16 July 1982) is a retired professional

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, who is most well known for his time at

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

in the Aviva Premiership and also for representing England Rugby Union Team. Tom was educated at

Dean Close School Dean Close School is a public school in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school is divided into pre-prep, preparatory and senior schools located on separate but adjacent sites outside Cheltenham town centre, occupying the largest private ...

, Cheltenham. His position of choice was Flanker. Upon retiring from professional rugby, Johnson founde
Tom Johnson Lifestyle
a health and wellbeing lifestyle brand and now works as a personal coach.

Club career

Johnson started playing rugby with the

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

based amateur club

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 ...

then plying their trade in South West Division 1. His form there led to him being called up by the

county side who he helped to reach the Tetley's County Shield final in 2003 - losing at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

. In 2004 Johnson joined

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

who had just gained promotion to National Division Three South from the division he had just been in with at Chinnor. At his new club Johnson played in all 28 of their National Three South and Cup matches, mostly at Number 8, and plundered 17 tries, helping the Berkshire side to 6th place in the league. He bagged four in a game twice, against Dings Crusaders and

Lydney Lydney is a town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is on the west bank of the River Severn in the Forest of Dean District, and is 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Gloucester. The town has been bypassed by the A48 road since 1995 ...

. Johnson switched to

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

the following season and along the way to becoming the first Reading player to excel on the professional stage since Ayoola Erinle, then a future

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 ...

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

. During his Coventry days he scored an 80-metre try against

Otley Otley is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically a part of the West Ridi ...

, this was an early indication of his nimble footwork for a big man and ability to finish moves from long range. Johnson joined

in 2007 and since then was a regular on the Exeter teamsheet, He made his Exeter debut on 1 September 2007 against

Sedgley Park Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester city centre, north of Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford and south of Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury. Historic counties of Eng ...

. Johnson was a part of the Exeter team that gained promotion from the

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 ...

to the

Aviva 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 ...

. Johnson became a key component in Exeter's success and in 2011 was rewarded with an international callup. On 2 January 2014, Johnson signed a three-year contract extension to stay with

until 2016/17 season. Johnson retired from professional rugby in 2017 and formed his own health and wellbeing lifestyle company
Tom Johnson Lifestyle
He is now a fully qualified personal coach, delivering personal training and online personal coaching.

International career

Johnson was called up to a select England side to face the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

in 2011. Johnson made numerous starts for the England Saxons squad receiving many positive reviews and was part of the team that won the

2011 Churchill Cup The 2011 Churchill Cup, the ninth and final edition of an annual international rugby union tournament, took place in Northampton, Esher, Gloucester and Worcester. This was just the second time in the tournament's history in which England played h ...

defeating

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in the final. In 2012 Johnson was selected for England's tour to

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 ...

. Johnson started all three games for England against South Africa. For his first cap on the England tour of South Africa in June 2012, Johnson became the first full England international from Exeter Rugby Club since Martin Underwood in 1964. Johnson went on to represent England against

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the Autumn internationals. Johnson scored his first try for England in the 54–12 win over Fiji. Johnson was originally selected in Englands squad for the

2013 Six Nations The 2013 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2013 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 14th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championsh ...

however he was dropped after suffering a knee ligament injury for Exeter Chiefs in their

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 ...

match against

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

Sandy Park Sandy Park is a rugby union stadium and conference and banqueting centre in Exeter, England. It is the home ground of Exeter Chiefs, who from the 2010–11 season have been playing in the Gallagher Premiership, the top flight of the English rug ...

ruling him out of the Tournament. Johnson returned to the England team when he was called up for the tour to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

in 2013

Honours

Oxfordshire *Tetley's County Shield finalists: 2003 Exeter Chiefs *

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

champions: 2009–10 England Saxons *

Churchill Cup The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams (originally one and later three) from a wide arr ...

winners:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

England *Called up for Six Nations:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

*Called up for international tours: 2012–13, 2013–14

References

External links

Exeter Player ProfileRFU Player Profile
*http://tomjohnsonlifestyle.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Tom 1982 births People educated at Dean Close School Alumni of Oxford Brookes University England international rugby union players English rugby union players Exeter Chiefs players Living people Sportspeople from Düsseldorf Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights