James Stannard (born 21 February 1983) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

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 ...

footballer. He can operate as a scrum-half or

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– ...

. He previously played for the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...

and

Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005–2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the brumby, feral horses whi ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

. Stannard was an

Australia sevens The Australia Sevens is an international rugby sevens tournament that was first played in 1986. Currently hosted as the Sydney Sevens, the event is part of the World Rugby Sevens Series. The tournament was held in Brisbane, in Adelaide, and o ...

player and was awarded the 2010 Australian Sevens Player of the Year award. He competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. Stannard is currently part of the coaching staff for the Women's Aussie 7s rugby team.

Injury and retirement

On 30 March 2018, Stannard received a fractured skull in an altercation with a 23 year old English tourist, Sam Oliver. The two men had left a Sydney bar at 3am with the altercation ensuing outside a kebab shop. Stannard was knocked unconscious from a single punch during the incident and hit his head on the concrete floor. Following his head injury, Stannard has suffered from vertigo. In June 2018, Stannard was forced to retire from playing rugby due to the head injuries he received in the altercation. Sam Oliver claimed that he retaliated in self-defence after Stannard had approached him, made an offensive remark, and initially punched Oliver's left eye. In September 2018, following a two-and-a-half day hearing, Oliver was found not guilty of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm.

References

External links

* * * Living people 1983 births Australian rugby union players ACT Brumbies players Western Force players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union scrum-halves Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players of Australia Male rugby sevens players Australia international rugby sevens players Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players of Australia Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens Rugby sevens players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Rugby sevens players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games {{Australia-rugbyunion-bio-stub