Jason Leonard World Cup Profile
NAME : Jason Leonard OBE
CLUB : NEC Harlequins
POSITION : Prop
BORN : 14.8.68 Barking
HEIGHT : 1.78m (5'10")
WEIGHT : 117kg (18st 7lbs)
CAPS : 113
POINTS : 5 - 1t
At 21 Jason Leonard was the youngest prop ever to play for England when he faced Argentina in 1990. Now at the age of 35 he's the world's most capped player in history with 113 caps for England and five for the Lions, overtaking France's Phillippe Sella with 111 during the World Cup. He reached his 100th cap for England against France back in February 2003.
In an incredible career he has also represented the Lions on three tours, New Zealand in 1993, South Africa in 1997 and Australia in 2001. Before taking a break in the summer of 1998, he had missed only one match since his debut eight years earlier, apart from when he was on Lions duty in 1997. He has captained England twice, once against Argentina on December 14th 1996 when he also scored the only try of his international career and also against Wales in August this year. He played a big part in England's 43-9 win over Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in the World Cup warm up match last year. The highlight of his career was coming on as a substitute in England's World Cup win over Australia in Sydney, having featured in all seven of England’s World Cup matches.
He arrived at NEC Harlequins via Barking, England Colts, Eastern Counties and Saracens and was educated at Warren Comprehensive, Chadwell Heath.
International Record:
1990 Arg (1,2), Arg 1991 W,S,I,F,Fj,A World Cup NZ,It,USA,F,S,A 1992 S,I,F,W,C,SA 1993 F,W,S, I, NZ 1994 S,I,F,W,SA(1,2),Ro,C 1995 I,F,W,S World Cup Arg,It,A,NZ,F, SA,WS, 1996 F,W,S,I,It,Arg 1997 S,I,F,W,A,NZ(1),SA,NZ(2) 1998 F,W,S,I,N,It,A,SA, 1999 S,I,F,W,A,C(R) World Cup It,NZ,Fj,SA 2000 I,F,W,It,S,SA(1,2),A,Arg,SA 2001 W,It,S,F,I,Ro 2002 S (R),I (R),F(R)I(R), It (R ),SA 2003 S,I, NZ,W,F(1,2,R,3), RWC G(R), SA(R),Sam,U,W,F(R),A(R)
LIONS: 1993 NZ(2,3), 1997 SA(1R), 2001 A(1R,2R)
Did you know?
With such an illustrious playing career, Jason still lists pulling on the England shirt as his moment of pride and chooses Twickenham as his favourite venue. He started playing at school aged 10 and has not forgotten his first sporting success when Barking RFC became Under 19s Champions. He chooses Peter Winterbottom as a sporting hero, describing him as "the hardest rugby player I've ever played rugby with" and Olo Brown of New Zealand as another one of the toughest.
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