Louis Deacon (born 7 October 1980, in Leicester) is a former English 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 it ...

footballer. He played

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 ...

Career

His playing career started as an eight-year-old, playing with Wigston, before joining Syston RFC and as a

Ratcliffe College Ratcliffe College is a coeducational Catholic independent boarding and day school near the village of Ratcliffe on the Wreake, Leicestershire, approximately from Leicester, England. The college, situated in of parkland on the Fosse Way about ...

student represented the Midlands county and both the England 16 Group and U18 Group School sides. He joined the Leicester Tigers Academy in the 1997–98 season and worked his way through the Tigers Youth, U21 and Extras teams. Deacon joined Leicester Tigers in 2000. He made his first team debut in August 2000 as a replacement against

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and has established himself as a highly dependable player and equally at home at the front or middle of the line out. In the absence of club captain

Geordan Murphy Geordan Edward Andrew Murphy (born 19 April 1978) is an Irish rugby union coach and former player. He played as fullback or wing both for the Irish international team and the English club Leicester Tigers. Youth Murphy was born in Dublin, Ire ...

through injury, he has captained for spells in the 2009–10 season. Deacon was part of the Leicester squads that won the 2007, 2009 and 2010 Premiership finals. He was called up to the England A squad in the 2002–03 season but injury forced him to withdraw. Having lived in the shadow of the

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 ...

pairing of Martin Johnson and

Ben Kay Benedict James Kay MBE (born 14 December 1975) is a retired English international rugby union footballer who played Second row forward for Leicester Tigers and . Background Kay was born in Liverpool, the only son of Lord Justice of Appeal Si ...

for several seasons, he took the opportunity in 2003–04 to command a regular place during the

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. He made 23 appearances in all that season, and by the end he was being picked ahead of Kay. In September 2003 he was named in the England National Academy Training squad. He was called up to the elite squad for the 2005–6 season and went on to make his international debut against

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 and Apolima); ...

. He was again named in the elite squad, in the 2006–07 season. For the

2007 Six Nations The 2007 Six Nations Championship was the eighth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 113th series of the international championship. Fifteen mat ...

opener against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, Deacon started 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 ...

under new head coach Brian Ashton. He continued in this position, throughout the first three games of the tournament, and came off the bench against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

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 ...

in the final two games of the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. Deacon would have to wait a further two years before winning another cap, playing in the two test series against

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 ...

. He made it into the EPS Elite squad for 2009–10, and partnered captain Steve Borthwick during the Autumn Internationals. He then went on to play in every RBS 6 Nations Championship match last season, as he had done three years earlier, which not only illustrated the skill, but the resolution of Deacon, who went on to miss the summer tour of Australasia and the Investec Internationals through a back injury, which was a similar injury to when he underwent surgery on a prolapsed disc in June 2008 that ruled him out of the Investec Challenge Series and the subsequent RBS 6 Nations Championship. On 17 February 2015, it was announced Deacon had retired from rugby due to injury.

References

External links

Louis Deacon Professional Rugby Player - website

Leicester profile

England profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deacon, Louis 1980 births Living people England international rugby union players English rugby union players Leicester Tigers players Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Leicester People educated at Ratcliffe College