Anthony George Stanger (born 14 May 1968) is a Scottish former international

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. With 24 international tries, he was

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 ...

's joint record

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

scorer, along with

Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to ...

, until that record was broken by

Stuart Hogg Stuart Hogg (born 24 June 1992) is a Scottish rugby union player who plays for Exeter Chiefs in the English Premiership and used to captain the Scottish national team. His playing positions are fullback and fly-half. Hogg has twice been nam ...

in November 2021. His regular playing positions were Wing and Centre.

Early life

Stanger was born in

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one of ...

in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

. He attended university at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Applied Sport Sciences – 1st Class Honours (1999)."Talent job lures Tony Stanger back to Scotland"
''The Telegraph'', 17 May 2008.

Rugby career

Stanger played rugby for Scotland at under 18, 19 and 21 levels. He went on the Scotland rugby team's tour of Japan. He was selected to start for Scotland 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 ...

in October 1989, without playing for the Scotland B side. He scored the winning try in the 1990 Five Nations match against England to seal Scotland's third

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

."The memory lives on for everyone but the hero"
''Herald'', 3 February 2015. He played for Scotland at the

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

and

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...

s. In 1997, Stanger was called up to replace

Ieuan Evans Ieuan Cennydd Evans (born 21 March 1964) is a former rugby union player who played on the wing for Wales and the British and Irish Lions. He is the fourth highest try scorer for Wales behind Shane Williams, George North and Gareth Thomas an ...

, who was injured on tour with the British Lions in South Africa 1997, and Stanger gained one cap on the tour.

Later and personal life

Since retiring from playing, Stanger has moved on to other pursuits, mainly in the areas of coaching and guidance for professional sportspeople. He received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Education from University of Edinburgh in June 2007. Stanger worked as a Talent Manager with the

Scottish Institute of Sport Sportscotland (officially styled sport), formerly the Scottish Sports Council, is the national agency for sport in Scotland. The Scottish Sports Council was established in 1972 by royal charter. The body works in partnership with public, pri ...

from 2008 to 2015, then served as Director at performance agency ''Stanger Pro'' alongside his New Zealand-born wife Bid.About
Stanger Pro Their son

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

is a

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who began his career at

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in Scottish League Two as a member of the ...

before moving to

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...

in 2018, also being selected for New Zealand Under-20s.

References

External links

Tony Stanger International Statistics
1968 births Living people Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Border Reivers players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Edinburgh Rugby players FC Grenoble players Hawick Linden RFC players Hawick RFC players Leeds Tykes players Rugby union players from Hawick Rugby union wings Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub