Christopher Robert Andrew (born 18 February 1963) is a former English

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who as a fly-half played 71 Tests for England between 1985 and 1997. Since his retirement from playing he has held administration roles in both rugby and cricket. He was formerly the Director of Rugby of

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 ...

and Professional Rugby Director at the RFU. He was Chief Executive of

Sussex County Cricket Club Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The c ...

before joining the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

in 2024 as Managing Director of the professional game. As a player, Andrew was assured in his kicking and defensive skills off both feet. Andrew also had a brief career in

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

whilst at University and played for

Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club is a professional Cricket club based in Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the County Championship, the top tier of English First-class cricket. Nicknamed "Vikings". Yorkshire also competes in T20 Blast, O ...

's Second XI. Andrew was born in

Richmond, North Yorkshire Richmond is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is located at the point where Swaledale, the upper valley of the River Swale, opens into the Vale of Mowbray. The town's population at the 2011 ...

, England on 18 February 1963.

Rugby career

Domestic

Andrew attended Barnard Castle School, where he was contemporary with future teammate Rory Underwood and was captain of the school 1st XV in 1981. Whilst in the northeast, both Underwood and Andrew played their rugby at Middlesbrough RUFC. Andrew then attended

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, and played for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in the Varsity Match. He joined

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

for one season in 1985/86 and then joined Wasps FC where he was first choice fly-half throughout most of the eight seasons he spent with the north London club. At Wasps FC he won the English League in 1990, eventually leaving to join Newcastle Gosforth in 1995 as both a player and as director of rugby. The club had just been bought out by Sir John Hall in the lead-up to the game turning professional; they became the Falcons of today. During his time in charge of

he is credited with discovering Jonny Wilkinson. In 1991 he joined the famous Stade Toulousain (France) for one season. He was an ever-present when Newcastle Falcons won the 1997-98 Premiership. His playing career was ended in 1999 after an injury in training.

International

Andrew was fly-half for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

during the Will Carling era, making a winning debut in January 1985 against Romania at Twickenham. For the next 10 years he was England's regular fly-half earning 70 caps, including 2 as captain. He was briefly dropped in 1993 as England tried out Bath RFC's Stuart Barnes for the fly-half's position, but regained it after two matches. After England finished 4th in the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup (), was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in ...

, he saw out his contract at Wasps and moved to the

. He made his final appearance for England after an absence of almost two years when he was called off the bench as a try scoring replacement against Wales in March 1997. In total, he scored 396 international points, won the Grand Slam with England 3 times and held the English record for the most points scored in an international - 30, scored against Canada in 1994. Critics of the England side blamed him for kicking the ball too much rather than passing - perhaps unfairly since England three times broke the Five Nations records for tries scored, and points scored, with Andrew as fly-half (in 1990 despite not even winning the tournament, and again in 1992 and 1995): however it was undeniable that England's game plan was based very much more around their forwards than their backs, with kicking for territory and competing to win line-outs and rucks in opposition territory being a major part of the tactic.

did, however, enjoy a great deal of success with him as their Number 10. Inconsistent early in his career as a place-kicker for penalties and conversions, and often ceding that duty to fullbacks Webb and Hodgkinson (only to have to take some kicks anyway, when Webb also proved inconsistent early in his own career), Andrew improved that aspect of his game greatly, until by the end of his career he was among the best in the world at it, as well as being a reliable source of dropped-goals. He played in 3

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

competitions;

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

(making 2 appearances),

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

and

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. Curiously, just as Wilkinson had beaten

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final with a drop goal, the last time

lost in the same competition was in 1995. In that year, it was Andrew who nailed a drop goal on the stroke of full-time to beat the Wallabies 25–22. Four years before, it was another late drop-goal by Andrew, in the semi-final against Scotland, that took England to the final against Australia. In 1989 he had the honour of captaining the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in a rare "home" match for the Lions. The game formed part of the celebrations of the bi-centennial of the French Revolution. In the final match, against ANZAC, of the Lions' victorious '89 tour to Australia, Andrew came on at inside center as a substitute for the injured Brendan Mullen. Andrew also toured to New Zealand with the Lions in 1993, starting at flyhalf over his England rival Barnes. The Lions lost the test series to New Zealand 2–1.

Post playing

Andrew remained as director of rugby at Newcastle Falcons after the injury that ended his playing career until on 18 August 2006 he was appointed by the RFU to undertake the post of Director of Elite Rugby to oversee all aspects of representative rugby in England, from the regional academies to the full senior side. On 6 January 2011, Andrew's role as director of elite rugby at the Rugby Football Union was scrapped in an overhaul of the organisation's structure. It was reported that Andrew was invited to apply for one of the new roles created by this process, that of operations director. At a press conference on 16 November 2011 Andrew's position was described as Director of Elite Rugby and he reportedly took several attempts to (inconclusively) describe his responsibilities. He resigned as the RFU's director of professional rugby in February 2016. On 10 November 2017, Andrew was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame at a ceremony held in the Hall's facility in Rugby.

Cricket career

Andrew was also a talented

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er, gaining a Cambridge blue for that sport as well, and he made 17

appearances for the university cricket team in 1984 and 1985,First-class batting and fielding in each season by Rob Andrew
CricketArchive. Retrieved 23 November 2016. as well as playing five times for Combined Universities in

one-day cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed within one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty20 cricket (3-h ...

.List A batting and fielding for each team by Rob Andrew
CricketArchive. Retrieved 23 November 2016. A left-handed batsman and right arm off-break bowler, he made one first-class century, scoring 101

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

in July 1984. Andrew also made a few appearances for the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

Second XI, and on one occasion dismissed future England captain Mike Atherton (then aged 17) for a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

.Williamson M (2007
Rugger buggers

CricInfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

, 18 October 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2016. In November 2016, Andrew was appointed chief executive of

.Rob Andrew: Sussex name ex-England rugby player as chief executive
''

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

'', 23 November 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2016. After seven years in the role he joined the England and Wales Cricket Board as Managing Director of the professional game.

Off the field

Andrew is an Honorary President of the rugby charity

Wooden Spoon A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...

, which raises funds for disadvantaged children and young people in the UK and Ireland.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Andrew, Rob 1963 births Living people Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Barbarian F.C. players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England British Universities cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Cambridge University cricket captains Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players Cricketers from Yorkshire England international rugby union players English cricket administrators English cricketers English rugby union executives English rugby union players Members of the Order of the British Empire Newcastle Falcons players North of England Rugby Union team Nottingham R.F.C. players People educated at Barnard Castle School Rugby union fly-halves Sportspeople from Richmond, North Yorkshire Rugby union players from Richmond, North Yorkshire Wasps RFC players World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees Yorkshire County RFU players 1987 Rugby World Cup players 1991 Rugby World Cup players 1995 Rugby World Cup players 20th-century English sportsmen