Budge Pountney

Anthony Charles 'Budge' Pountney (born 13 November 1973) is a rugby union coach and retired player. A flanker, he played in the Northampton Saints side that won the 1999–2000 Heineken Cup.

Budge Pountney
Birth nameAndy Charles Pountney
Date of birth (1973-11-13) 13 November 1973
Place of birthSouthampton, England
Height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight97 kg (214 lb)
SchoolKings' School, Winchester
Children2
Rugby union career
Position(s) Flanker
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1992–1994 Northampton Saints ()
Correct as of 5 March 2007
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1994–2003 Northampton Saints 215 (230)
Correct as of 5 March 2007
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1998–2002 Scotland 31 ((25 from 5 tries))
Correct as of 5 March 2007
Coaching career
Years Team
2003–2005 Northampton Saints
Correct as of 5 March 2007

Pountney was born in Southampton in England, but had a grandmother from the Channel Islands which made him eligible for any of the British national teams. He won 31 caps for Scotland from 1998 to 2002. He was part of the Scotland team that won the 1999 Five Nations Championship, played in the 1999 World Cup, and later captained the team.

After retiring, he was head coach and later director of rugby at Northampton. He later worked in club and school coaching. He is now the development director for Ulster Rugby.

Early life

Pountney was born in Southampton, the son of a farm manager.[1] He attended Weeke Primary School, Kings' School and Peter Symonds College in Winchester. He studied at Bedford College and gained a BA Honours in European Studies and Sports Studies.[2] He was eligible to play rugby for Scotland by virtue of a grandmother born in the Channel Islands; as a dependency of the Crown outside of the United Kingdom, people from the Islands are eligible to represent whichever of the Home Nations they choose.[3]

Playing career

He began playing rugby for the Winchester RFC mini rugby sides.

Northampton club rugby

At age 18 he joined Northampton Rugby Union Football Club who were playing in what was then the First Division. His senior debut came in 1994, against Coventry R.F.C.[2] He had played for the England Students and U21s but had never really felt like he fitted in.[4][5]

He started in the Northampton side that won the 2000 Heineken Cup Final, defeating Munster at Twickenham.[6] He was club captain from 2001 to 2004.[7] He had broken his nose twice that season, but with the Northampton squad stretched, he had continued to offer himself for selection.[8] In September 2003 he sustained a broken ankle while playing a pre-season friendly match for Northampton.[9] He did not recover sufficiently from that injury and in February 2004 he announced his retirement from playing rugby.[10] He made 215 appearances for Northampton and scored 46 tries, playing in 104 English Premiership matches.[1][11]

International career

Pountney represented England Students and Under-21s but was told that he was too short to play for England's senior team. He qualified for Scotland through a grandmother from the Channel Islands.

He received his first cap for Scotland in November 1998, in an autumn international test match against South Africa. He had played a part in all the team's matches when Scotland won the 1999 Five Nations Championship,[3] where he was a replacement in the first three matches before Jim Telfer selected him in the starting line-up for the match against France in Paris.[12] He was part of the Scotland squad for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, playing in four matches.[11] He scored a try against New Zealand in the quarter-finals, although the All Blacks won the match and brought Scotland's tournament came to an end.[13] In January 2002, returning from injury, he captained Scotland against England in their opening match of the 2002 Six Nations Championship.[14] He made a total of 31 capped appearances for Scotland, scoring five tries.[11] In January 2003 he left Murrayfield in frustration for the last time, after speaking his mind very plainly on the problems he saw there.[15]

Coaching career

Late in 2004 he became head coach of Northampton Saints, together with former England fly-half and teammate Paul Grayson.[16] In July 2005 he became Director of Rugby.

After retiring from top class rugby, he has worked as an independent citing officer, reviewing English Rugby Premiership matches.[17] In the summer of 2013 he became Director of Rugby at Bournemouth RFC who were playing in National Division 2 South.[18] The club announced that he was to leave at the end of the 2014 season, citing a change in personal circumstances.[19]

He then worked as Head of Rugby at Marlborough College and moved to Regent House School in Newtownards in 2017. In 2021 he became development director for Ulster Rugby.[20]

References
  1. Glover, Tim (14 January 2007). "Budge Pountney: Witness to the break-up of the Sainthood". The Independent.
  2. Glover, Tim (15 April 2000). "Pountney and the forgotten F word". The Independent. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  3. Reid, Alasdair (19 January 2013). "Budge Pountney: Ten years on, still a man of principle". The Herald. Newsquest. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  4. Verdier, Nick (29 November 2012). "My Life in Rugby: Budge Pountney – former Northampton and Scotland back row". The Rugby Paper. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  5. Lyall, Jamie (31 January 2016). "Budge Pountney: English exile who preferred life as a Scot". BBC News. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  6. "Saints secure historic victory". BBC News. BBC. 27 May 2000. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  7. "Rugby: Statistics: Club captains". Northampton Saints. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  8. Harris, Norman (4 February 2001). "The immovable Budge". The Observer. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  9. "Pountney out with broken leg". BBC News. 1 September 2003. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  10. "Pountney retires from rugby". BBC News. 11 February 2004. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  11. "Scotland: Players & Officials: Budge Pountney". ESPN. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  12. Hewett, Chris (8 April 1999). "Rugby Union: Scotland selection surprises Pountney". The Independent. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  13. "All Blacks end it for gutsy Scots". BBC News. 24 October 1999. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  14. "Pountney named as Scotland captain". The Irish Times. 23 January 2002. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  15. "Pountney quits Scotland". BBC News. BBC. 29 January 2003.
  16. "Pountney born again after the turmoil". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. 8 January 2005. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  17. "Sale's Cueto handed two-week ban". BBC News. BBC. 7 April 2009.
  18. Wadley, Ian (26 June 2013). "Rugby: Lions recruit former Scotland captain Pountney". Bournemouth Daily Echo. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  19. Mitchell, Andy (26 June 2013). "Rugby: 'Personal circumstances' behind Budge Pountney's Bournemouth exit says chairman Denis Eveleigh". Bournemouth Daily Echo. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  20. "'Ulster Rugby and Northampton Saints are very similiar' [sic]: Budge Pountney on Heineken Cup glory and sharpening province's two-prong attack". belfasttelegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
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