Timothy Richard George Stimpson (born 10 September 1973 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

) is a former

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 ...

international full back (and occasional wing). During his career he played for

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

West Hartlepool West Hartlepool was a predecessor of Hartlepool, County Durham, England. It developed in the Victorian era and took the name from its western position in the parish of what is now known as the Headland. The former town was originally formed ...

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

, Leicester Tigers, Perpignan,

Leeds Tykes Leeds Tykes (formerly Leeds RUFC, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the National League 1. The club was founded as Headingley FC, but renamed in 1991 when it j ...

and Nottingham,

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 and 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 ...

. His international career was a start-stop affair, however, he excelled at club level. In particular, during his five-year spell at Leicester Tigers between 1998–2003, as a goalkicker, he was an integral part of the dominant Leicester side that won the league four times in succession to add to back-to-back Heineken Cup, becoming the Premiership's top points scorer in the process (his points total has now been overtaken by both

Jonny Wilkinson Jonathan Peter Wilkinson, CBE (born 25 May 1979) is an English former rugby union player. A fly-half, he played for Newcastle Falcons and Toulon and represented England and the British & Irish Lions. He is particularly known for scoring the w ...

and Andy Goode).

Early life

Stimpson was educated at

Silcoates School Silcoates School is a co-educational independent school in the village of Wrenthorpe near Wakefield, England. The school was founded in 1820 as the Northern Congregational School at Silcoates House, for the board and education of the sons of Non ...

. In 1992, he went to the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

, where he studied

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

at Grey College, graduating in 1995.

Club career

Stimpson fell out with Newcastle's management and Rob Andrew during the 1997–98 season and only made four appearances for them as they won the Premiership. At the end of the season he signed for Leicester Tigers. After the retirement of Joel Stransky in 1999 he became Leicester Tigers' principal goalkicker. In the 2001 Heineken Cup Final against Stade Français he converted Leon Lloyd's last minute try from the right-hand touchline—the most difficult position to kick a conversion from for a right-footed kicker—to take the match from 32–30 to 34–30 to Leicester. This meant that to win the match, Stade would have had to score a try rather than the easier task of their fly-half Diego Dominguez, who kicked all of Stade's points, landing a goal. There were no further scores. A year later, in the 2002 Heineken Cup semi-final against

Llanelli Llanelli (" St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarth ...

. With only a few minutes remaining, the score was 10–12 to Llanelli, Stimpson having kicked a penalty and converted

Harry Ellis Harry Alistair Ellis (born 17 May 1982 in Leicester) is a retired English rugby union footballer who played scrum half for Leicester Tigers, England and the British & Irish Lions. On 8 July 2010, Ellis announced his retirement from the game ...

's try, Stephen Jones having kicked four penalties for the Scarlets. In windy conditions, Tigers were awarded a penalty at a scrum inside their own half, and Stimpson elected to go for goal from 60m out. The ball hit one of the posts and the crossbar, before going over to give the Tigers a 13–12 lead which they held onto to gain the victory. Tigers went on to win the final against Munster, Stimpson kicking a penalty and a conversion. In 2003 he was rumoured to be linked to French club Perpignan despite having time left on his contract at Leicester. Despite initial denials from Tigers' management, he did sign and moved to France after the 2003 World Cup, Tigers releasing him from his contract. However, he failed to play for Perpignan and in 2004 returned to England to play for

. While at Leeds he helped them win the Powergen Cup in 2005, however he was not in the squad for the final itself. He decided to retire from playing for Leeds Tykes to pursue a career in coaching in January 2006. In the summer of 2006 his services were used by Nottingham Rugby Club, where he presently holds a part-time coaching role. Stimpson won a record five consecutive Premiership titles with Newcastle Falcons and Leicester Tigers. The Leeds Tykes Coach, Phil Davies, commented "he will always be remembered as one of the most successful players ever in the professional era in this country".

International career

Stimpson went on the 1997 British Lions tour to South Africa and would have played in the tests as first choice full back were it not for the better goal-kicking of

Neil Jenkins Neil Jenkins, (born 8 July 1971) is a Welsh former rugby union player and current coach. He played fly-half, centre, or full back for Pontypridd, Cardiff, Celtic Warriors, Wales and the British & Irish Lions. Jenkins is Wales' highest ever ...

that was crucial to the Lions' series victory.

Early life

Club career

International career

References

External links