Nick Easter

Nick Easter

Personal information
Full name	Nicholas James Easter
Date of birth	(1978-08-15) 15 August 1978
Place of birth	Epsom, Surrey, England
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	115 kg (18 st 2 lb)[1]
School(s) attended	Dulwich College
University(s)	Nottingham Trent University
Relatives	Mark Easter, Anne Easter Smith
Club information
Position(s)	Number 8, Lock, Blindside Flanker
Current club	Harlequins
Youth clubs
Years Club Old Alleynian Villagers Club Ilkeston RUFC
Senior clubs*
Years Club Apps (points) 2001-2004 2004- Orrell Harlequins 75(150) 252 (255)
Representative teams**
2007- 2007- England Saxons England 51 (30)
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only and correct as of 24 January 2015. ** Representative team caps and points correct as of 21 March 2015.

Nick Easter (born 15 August 1978 in Epsom, Surrey) is a rugby union rugby player who plays at No. 8 for Harlequins and England.

He is the brother of Sale Sharks player Mark Easter and the nephew of author Anne Easter Smith. His father, John, played squash professionally and reached No. 1 in Britain and No. 9 in the world. His great grandfather, Pieter Le Roux, played for the Springboks. He attended the South London public school Dulwich College and Nottingham Trent University.^[2]

Playing career

Nick Easter

After a period working in London, Easter moved to Rosslyn Park F.C. before swiftly moving onto Orrell and then Harlequins where he has stayed since.

He made his England debut in the 2007 Six Nations win against Italy.^[3]

On 4 August 2007, Easter scored four tries as England beat Wales by a record 62–5 at Twickenham in a World Cup warm-up game.^[4] Easter was the first No.8 to score four tries in one match for England.

Easter won the Harlequins Player of the year award for two consecutive seasons in 2004/5 and 2005/6 which helped him gain England recognition. He won this award for a third time at the end of the 2012/13 season at the age of 34.

Easter was selected for the World Cup squad.^[5] He started 6 matches of the 2007 Rugby World Cup where he was a key influence in helping the team make the final.^[6][7][8]

During the 2008 Six Nations^[9] he was named man of match against France away in Englands 24–13 win. He also started all 5 matches of the 2009 Six Nations.^[10]

On the 2010 England tour to Australia he was named man of the match in the second test victory 21–20, helping secure England's first win down under for seven years. Later that year he captained his country during the autumn internationals against Samoa which England won 26-13.

He was involved in the 2011 Rugby Union World Cup and was reported to be the player to have reacted to England's quarter-final defeat by France in Auckland by joking: "There's £35k just gone down the toilet."

During 2012, despite being regarded as the 'best No. 8 in England', he found his road into the England squad blocked, but he has since enjoyed success with Harlequins helping them to win the Amlin Cup in 2011 and the club's first-ever English Premiership title in 2012.

In the penultimate game of the 2013/14 season, against Bath, Nick became the most capped Harlequin in the professional era, with 233 appearances.

In the opening game of the 6 Nations 2015 Easter came on as a substitute for England in their 21-16 win over Wales at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. In the second game, he scored a try against Italy and thus became the oldest player ever to score for England.

References

External links

• Report about Nick Easter