England Player Profiles

David Strettle

Key Facts

Squad	Saracens
Position	Wing
Age	28
Height	1.86m (6'1")
Weight	87kg (13st 9lb)
Caps	11
Twitter	@David_Strettle

Injuries have not deflected David Strettle in his quest for caps and he toured Australasia with England in June 2010. A newcomer to Saracens from Harlequins for the following season, he was try-scorer on his Test debut against Ireland at Croke Park five years ago and made two more appearances before damaging an ankle while playing for ‘Quins.

He recovered in time to tour South Africa in the summer of 2007 but had to watch both Test matches on television in isolation at the team hotel. He had already spent three nights in the high dependency unit in a Johannesburg hospital with a ‘non specific virus’ resulting in a weight loss of five kilograms.

A broken bone in his left foot that required a screw being inserted in the fractured fifth metatarsal subsequently ruled him out of the 2007 RWC and a similar injury restricted him to 13 minutes’ playing time in the 2008 RBS 6 Nations Championship. He won his seventh Test cap in March 2011 against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium, 33 months after his most recent one against New Zealand in Auckland. His eighth appearance was in the 13-6 triumph over Scotland at Murrayfield in February this year and his ninth followed a week later in the 19-15 victory over Italy in Rome.

He reached double figures in the Wales’ match at Twickenham and came close to scoring his second Test try with the final play of a thrilling game that brought a 19-12 defeat. It was ruled out by Iain Ramage, the television match official. A chest injury prevented him from playing against France in early March but he returned six days later against Ireland at Twickenham.

David had created IRB Sevens history in 2006 when scoring five first-half tries on his debut against Papua New Guinea. Warrington-born, he played rugby league from the age of five, switched to Lymm RUFC and had football trials for Manchester City, Everton and Liverpool.

He was educated at Lymm HS and Sheffield Hallam University, where he obtained a Sport Science degree and joined Harlequins in 2006-07 from Rotherham Titans, for whom he had run in a hat trick of tries on his debut. David also marked his first game for Saracens with a try against Sale Sharks in September 2010 and went on to score another four in the Premiership to bring his total to 22 in 94 matches overall in the competition by mid-March this year.

The RPA Young Player of the Year in 2007, he had taken steps along his mazy path to top level by representing Cheshire, the North of England U21 and British Universities.

His ability to pop up in unorthodox positions and change direction at pace has bemused many defenders, as has his flamboyant attacking concept of 'disco rugby', a phrase that he picked up while with Lymm. So the Strettle beat goes on.