Chris Horsman (born 2 February 1978) is a former Wales 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 it ...

player.

Club career

Horsman attended

Sheldon School Sheldon School (formerly Chippenham Boys' High School) is a large mixed secondary school and sixth form in Chippenham, Wiltshire for students aged 11 to 18 and is the largest school in Wiltshire. Since April 2011, it has been an Academy. It is ...

in Chippenham, Wiltshire and represented

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 ...

at youth international level. Horsman started his club career at Bath in 1997 before joining

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...

in 2002. With the advent of regional rugby in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, Horsman was called up to the Celtic Warriors regional side, but when the club was disbanded due to financial difficulties in 2004 he was forced to seek another club. Horsman signed for

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

in July 2004 and established himself as one of the best props in the English game. He signed a contract extension at the beginning of 2006 to keep him at Sixways until the summer of 2010 but in July 2009 he announced his retirement after a series of injuries.

International career

He was offered a place in the England national rugby union team, but two separate bouts with cancer prevented him from playing for England. However, he later chose to play for

as he qualified through the three-year international residency rule. Horsman made his full Welsh debut on 11 November 2005 against Fiji at the Millennium Stadium. He scored his first and only try against England at the Millennium Stadium on 17 March 2007 and he was selected for the Wales squad for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He attained a total of 14 international caps for Wales.

Refereeing and coaching

Following his retirement as a player, he announced his intentions to begin training as a referee. Horsman has also pursued a coaching career within the Welsh setup, as head coach of RGC 1404 from 2012 to 2014, and subsequent appointments within Wales' age-grade teams. In 2018, Horsman coached the

Wales national under-20 rugby union team The Wales national Under 20 rugby team is for Welsh rugby union players aged 20 or under on 1 January of the year during which they are selected. Under 20 age grade rugby came into existence, as a result of the IRB combining the Under 19 Rugby W ...

Personal life

In 1997, Horsman was diagnosed with

testicular cancer Testicular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system. Symptoms may include a lump in the testicle, or swelling or pain in the scrotum. Treatment may result in infertility. Risk factors include an ...

, which was successfully treated at the

Royal Marsden The Royal Marsden Hospital (RM) is a specialist cancer treatment hospital in London based in Kensington and Chelsea, next to the Royal Brompton Hospital, in Fulham Road with a second site in Belmont, close to Sutton Hospital, High Down and D ...

hospital in Sutton, London; only for him to be later diagnosed with a strain of

lymphatic cancer Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

. The second occurrence of this cancer was also treated successfully and Horsman returned to rugby.

Club career

International career

Refereeing and coaching

Personal life

References

External links