Matthew Brendan Perry (born 27 January 1977 in Bath, Somerset) is a former English

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 ...

rugby player who played full back for Bath. He played internationally for

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 ...

and the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

Youth and early career

A cricketer, at

Millfield School Millfield is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a registered charity and is the largest co-educational boarding s ...

Perry captained a side including Ben Hollioake, later an England international. He made his debut for Bath's first team towards the end of the amateur era in December 1995. Perry went to South Africa to play for the Durban Crusaders' under-21 side for four months in 1996. This caused him to give up a place at

University College, Cardiff , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

. On returning to the UK, Perry rejoined Bath. He played 221 times for the club before retiring in 2007. He played in eight of Bath's nine matches in their winning

1997–98 Heineken Cup The 1997–98 Heineken Cup was the third edition of the Heineken Cup European rugby union club competition. Competing professional club teams from France, Ireland, Italy, Wales, England and Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part ...

campaign, being omitted only from the final against Brive in Bordeaux in favour of Jon Callard, where he was named as a replacement.

England rugby

England coach

Clive Woodward Sir Clive Ronald Woodward (born 6 January 1956) is an English former rugby union player and coach. He was coach of the team from 1997 to 2004, managing them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He also coached the 2005 British & Irish Lion ...

, selected Perry for his first match in charge against Australia in autumn 1997. Perry was awarded man of the match on his debut. In the Rugby Football Union's 1997/98 awards, Perry was recognised as young player of the year. In 1998, Perry went on England's "Tour to Hell" of Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. During the 76–0 defeat by Australia, he played out of position at

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

. He was part of England's squad for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Aged 23, Perry beat Jonathan Webb's record to become England's most capped full back with 35 caps in the position, a record that has since been overtaken by Mike Brown. He went on to score 10 tries for England. A

back The human back, also called the dorsum, is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral column runs ...

injury saw him dropped from the England squad for

Iain Balshaw Iain Robert Balshaw, MBE (born 18 April 1979) is an English former rugby union player who played on the wing or at full back for Bath, Leeds Carnegie, Gloucester and Biarritz Olympique. He won 35 international caps for England between 2000 ...

; he later made way for both Jason Robinson and

Josh Lewsey Owen Joshua Lewsey MBE (born 30 November 1976) is an English former rugby union player who represented England and the British and Irish Lions. Lewsey is a former British Army Officer. Background and early life Lewsey was born in Bromley, L ...

. Perry made his last appearance for the England senior team in 2001 when he played 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 ...

. Perry subsequently went on the 2001 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia, playing in all three tests.

Later career

Perry continued to play for Bath after his final England appearance, but was plagued by injuries. He was forced to withdraw from the 2004 Zurich Premiership final due to a calf strain sustained in the pre-match warm-up.

Retirement

A bulging disc in Perry's back resulted in spasms and sciatic damage in his left leg, and he retired from playing rugby on 27 March 2007. On ending his rugby career, he was reported to be joining a consultancy company. He is the founder and director of the company Transition 15.

Family

Perry's father Brendan and grandfather Idris also played for Bath. One of Perry's grandmothers was from the town of

Ballyhaunis Ballyhaunis () is a town in County Mayo, Ireland. It is at the crossroads of the N60 and N83 National secondary roads and on the railway line linking Dublin to Westport and Ballina. It is thought that the town grew up around St Mary's Augu ...

in County Mayo, Ireland. He has two sons.

References

External links

Profile
at Bath Rugby Heritage {{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Matt 1977 births Living people People educated at Millfield Rugby union players from Bath, Somerset English rugby union players Bath Rugby players England international rugby union players Rugby union fullbacks British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England English people of Irish descent People educated at Millfield Preparatory School