Mark Mapletoft is a former rugby union international who 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 ...

in one test 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 ...

in 1997. Mapletoft represented England at A, U21 and U18 levels. He was also a reserve for the Coventry football team.

Early life

Mark Mapletoft was born on 25 December 1971 in Mansfield.

Rugby union career

Mapletoft joined Gloucester in 1994 from Rugby Lions as a full-back but made the move to fly-half under coach Richard Hill after recovering from a serious knee injury. He made his only international appearance on 7 June 1997 at Ferrocaril Oeste,

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in the

match. Argentina won the match 33 to 13. Mapletoft was a popular figure at Gloucester RFC, where he helped keep them in the top division in the 1997-98 season and he was known for his cheeky flair and inspired breaks. He scored 11 tries for Gloucester and scored over 450 points. Many of the top clubs wanted his signature and his desire to play at number 10, when Gloucester saw him reverting to full back lead to a move to Harlequins. Injuries meant he was not always at his best but he went on to continue to have a solid club career ending his playing days at London Irish. He was overlooked at international level because Rob Andrew was the mainstay of the England side and the emergence of Johnny Wilkinson meant he was unable to secure a place at the highest level. He scored 6 tries and scored over 450 points for Irish before retiring and taking a role with the RFU Academy. While coaching at Saracens, he played amateur rugby for Hertford RFC. He has recently agreed a coaching position with his former team Harlequins.

References

1971 births Living people Alumni of Loughborough University English rugby union coaches English rugby union players England international rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Loughborough Students RUFC players Gloucester Rugby players Saracens F.C. players Harlequin F.C. players London Irish players Rugby union players from Mansfield {{England-rugbyunion-bio-stub