Kyle Eastmond

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Kyle Eastmond
Kyle Eastmond playing for Bath in 2012
Full name Kyle Eastmond
Date of birth (1989-07-17) 17 July 1989[1]
Place of birth Oldham, Greater Manchester, England
Height 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight 80 kg (12 st 8 lb) [2]
School The Radclyffe School
Professional clubs
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2007 - 11 St. Helens 74 433
National teams
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2009 England 4 4
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position Centre/Fullback
Professional / senior clubs
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2011-present Bath [3] 23 25
National team(s)
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2013 England 2 5

Kyle Eastmond is a professional rugby union and former rugby league player who currently plays for Bath. He previously played for St. Helens in Super League and internationally for England. Eastmond has been compared to Australian international Scott Prince, because of his darting runs to the line and a good kicking game. He has also got a keen eye for a gap in the defensive line. Eastmond features on the UK cover of video game Rugby League Live.

Early life

Kyle attended the Parish Church CEVA School, Oldham and the Radclyffe School, Oldham.[4] Kyle is also related to Colchester United's Craig Eastmond, who is his cousin.

Rugby League career

Early career

In 2007, Kyle Eastmond was promoted to training with the St. Helens first team squad.

2008-09

In 2008, he was given the number 24 jersey and made a spectacular early impression in the traditional Good Friday fixture with Wigan, scoring a late try and a goal.[5] He made 13 appearances in this season scoring 6 tries. He was then compared to Jason Robinson for his general attributes, and with his size finds it easy to duck under any oncoming opposition which helped him make 778m.

In 2009, Kyle became an influential player for the St. Helens side. He may have played one less game than in 2008, but he scored 8 tries, 30 goals (18 more than the previous year), 7 try assists, he gained 899m and made more clean breaks. Kyle capped off an impressive year in 2009 by scoring all of Saints' 10 points in the 2009 Super League Grand Final defeat to Leeds.[6]

He was then selected for England in the 2009 Four Nations tournament and made his international debut against Wales in a warm-up game. In December 2009, Eastmond signed a new two-year contract with St Helens that ended at the end of the 2011 Super League season.

2010-11

After Sean Long left St. Helens to join Hull at the end of the 2009 season, Kyle became the new number 7 for Saints. He started the year very well before injuries hit him for the 2nd half of the season. Although he still managed to make 19 appearances scoring 15 tries. He scored 63 goal kicks missing 18, and kicked 2 drop goals. He made a total of 1615m. Every time he came back from injury he seem to aggravate it. Therefore meaning he missed the Grand Final defeat to Wigan. Matty Smith, now of Salford, returned from his loan spell at Salford for the play-offs and featured in the final.

In early 2011 Eastmond was linked with a move to Rugby Union. Kyle started the season poorly and with fans getting on his back. However on the 28th February 2011 both the club and coach Royce Simmons, confirmed he was to leave Saints. It was revealed that Kyle had signed a three year deal with Bath Rugby, Eastmond has promised to be 100% committed to his current club for the rest of the season.[7] Commenting on the move, Bath Director of Rugby Sir Ian McGeechan said he envisions Eastmond playing at centre.

On the 16th March 2011 it was announced on the St. Helens website that he had been suspended by the club pending an investigation into serious misconduct. The club also said that no further comments will be made until the completion of the investigation. It was confirmed by the club that he made an inappropriate gesture to his home fans, and it looked unlikely he would ever play in the red V again, especially after the emergence of scrum-half sensation Jonny Lomax and stand-off Lee Gaskell. He was dropped to the under-18s team. However injuries struck Saints, and they called upon Kyle to fill in. He was playing under difficult circumstances, with Saints fans booing him with every touch of the ball, however he made a decent return. In July 2011 he successfully made the switch from the halfbacks to fullback, scoring 2 tries against Wakefield Trinity on 9 July. Since then Kyle has regained his confidence and is playing in a similar way to the 2008-09 seasons. He has so far managed 15 appearances and scored 5 tries, but reduced to just 4 goal kicks (3 missed kicks) due to Jamie Foster replacing him as the club's kicker.

Rugby Union career

Bath

Kyle has now joined Bath, when he moved in October 2011, after his contract finished at Saints. In 2013, Kyle was selected to play for the England Saxons.

England

Eastmond was selected in the England squad to tour America in the summer of 2013. He played his first game in the uncapped match against Barbarians on May 26 2013, scoring a try shortly after coming off the bench as a replacement.[8]

He won his first England cap as a replacement in the first test against Argentina.[9]

Eastmond made his first start for England on 15 June 2013, replacing Lions call-up Billy Twelvetrees. He scored a try in the 51-26 victory over Argentina.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Kyle Eastmond, saintsrlfc.com, retrieved 2009-10-20 
  2. ↑ "Meet the Teams First Team Players". web page. Saints RFC. 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011. 
  3. ↑ "Kyle Eastmond Bath Profile". 
  4. ↑ Roughyeds in ‘state of flux’, oldham-chronicle.co.uk, 2009-10-06, retrieved 2009-10-20 
  5. ↑ Stott, Julie (2008-03-23), Saints look Long term in Kyle, London: thesun.co.uk, retrieved 2009-10-20 
  6. ↑ St Helens 10-18 Leeds Rhinos, news.bbc.co.uk, 2008-10-10, retrieved 2009-10-20 
  7. ↑ Comfrimed: Eastond to Bath Rugby Union, news.bbc.co.uk, 2011-02-28, retrieved 2011-02-28 
  8. ↑ 15:38 (2013-05-26). "BBC Sport - England 40-12 Barbarians: Freddie Burns shines in win". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-02. 
  9. ↑ By ChronSport (2013-06-10). "Bath Rugby back Kyle Eastmond earned his first England cap in the 32-3 victory over Argentina". Bath Chronicle. Retrieved 2014-02-02. 
  10. ↑ Standley, James (2013-06-15). "BBC Sport - Argentina 26-51 England". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-02. 

External links

Bath Rugby squad
Forwards
Backs
Coach
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