Tom Biggs

Profile

Enterprise, pace and strength are the hallmarks of Tom Biggs, whose skills were originally identified by Stuart Lancaster, now the England head coach, who spotted him playing for Yorkshire U18. Since then Tom represented England U21, Sevens and Saxons and moved from Leeds Carnegie to Newcastle Falcons and onward to Bath Rugby two seasons ago.

When growing up in Hull, he had rugby heroes in England’s Jason Robinson and Jonah Lomu, of New Zealand and there are no prizes guessing which player he more closely resembles. Tom said at the time: “I’m not one for running over the top of people,” just in case anyone perceived that he may be in the Lomu mould.

He changes direction without any hint of deceleration. His power belies his modest frame with the rubber-ball quality to bounce off challenges just like Robinson did. Fearless under the high ball, he has the confidence to transform defence into attack by counter attacking from positions where many players would kick ahead. His subtle football skills date back to his time on Hull City’s books.

Tom has run in many exciting tries, took his Premiership record to 28 in 104 matches by the end of last season and been rewarded with an England Saxons call for 2012-13. His two appearances for the side that both produced a try were four years ago against Italy A in Sicily against the United States in the opening Churchill Cup victory by 64-10 over Canada in Ottawa. He had been called into the party after Tom Varndell, an original choice, was enlisted for England’s New Zealand-bound senior squad. 

Beverley-born Tom, a former cinema usher, was educated at Hymers College in Hull, took a BA in Business Studies at Leeds Metropolitan University and became the leading try-scorer in Leeds Carnegie’s brief history. He did not break into county schools’ representative rugby until the U18 age grade but also played the North at that level and his Leeds’ debut was against Gloucester in September 2004.

Before winning a place in the Carnegie squad, Tom had been released to the Harrogate club in the summer of 2004 before being recalled as cover and going on to help Leeds to beat his current club Bath 20-12 in the 2005 Powergen Cup final at Twickenham. He delivered an assured display after switching from wing to full back after only two minutes when the injured Iain Balshaw was replaced by Diego Albanese.

Tom became Bath’s top try-scorer with eight last season, was the club’s supporters’ player of the year and in May signed a two-year contract that will keep him at the Recreation Ground until 2014. He said: “It was an easy decision for me to make. I feel that my game has really developed at Bath and I’m enjoying the style of rugby that we are looking to play. 

“There is a lot of ambition and much more to come from us and I’m really looking forward to being part of everything.”

Last updated: July 30, 2012

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