Thomas P. Ryder (born 21 February 1985) 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 who played at

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

, latterly for

Yorkshire Carnegie Leeds Tykes (formerly Leeds RUFC, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the National League 1. The club was founded as Headingley FC, but renamed in 1991 when it j ...

in 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 ...

Early life

Ryder was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, England on 21 February 1985 and educated at

Southwell Minster School The Minster School is a Church of England secondary school with sixth form in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England, for children aged 11 to 18. There are approximately 1600 students on roll. Text was copied from this source, which is available u ...

and

Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils 13-18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson (rector), Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oa ...

. He began playing rugby at the age of seven at Newark R.U.F.C. before joining

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 ...

Academy system at the age of 16, having captained England's under-16 side.

Club career

Ryder made three appearances in 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 ...

for

. During his time with the club, Ryder captained England at Under 19 level. Ryder left the ''Tigers'' to join

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

in the summer of 2005. Ryder broke into ''Sarries'' first team towards the end of the 2005–06 season and became a regular. During the opening months of the 2008–09 season, Ryder played for

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

in the

2008 Air New Zealand Cup The 2008 Air New Zealand Cup was a provincial rugby union competition involving 14 teams from New Zealand. Matches started on Thursday 31 July 2008, and continued until the final on 25 October 2008. This season was the third of the expanded co ...

. During the opening months of the 2010–11 season Ryder went on loan to injury hit

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 ...

returning to Sarries at the start of November 2010. Ryder signed a two-year contract with Glasgow for the 2011–12 season. Ryder's best season with Glasgow was in 2011/12, when he was voted into the Pro12 Dream Team. Ryder left Glasgow in January 2015 to play for Northampton until the end of the 2014/15 season. On 1 May 2015, Ryder signed for

who were competing in the

in the 2015–16 season. Ryder retired from professional rugby in May 2016, noting that injuries in latter years had made it impossible to recapture his peak form.

International career

Ryder has captained England at under-16 and under-19 levels, as well as playing at under-18. He represented England at the 2006 Under-21 World Championship. Ryder switched his allegiance and made his debut for Scotland A against the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in November 2010, qualifying through his Glasgow born father, He made his debut for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

during their 2012 summer-test series against both

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

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

References

External links

Saracens profile

Leicester Tigers profile

Premiership profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryder, Tom 1985 births Living people Alumni of the University of Hertfordshire English people of Scottish descent English rugby union players Glasgow Warriors players Leicester Tigers players People educated at Uppingham School Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Nottingham Saracens F.C. players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players