Calum Clark (born 10 June 1989 in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham) is a former professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player who played for

Saracens upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

. His primary position was

Openside Flanker Flanker is a position in the sport of rugby union. Each team of 15 players includes two flankers, who play in the forwards, and are generally classified as either blindside or openside flankers, numbers 6 and 7 respectively. The name comes fr ...

Early life and education

Clark is the only son of Jane Clark and David Stevenson Clark, former Deputy Headteacher of Richmond School and Sixth Form College in Richmond, North Yorkshire. David was tragically killed on 21 September 2020 by cows whilst walking his dogs. Calum has two siblings, Hannah and Helen. He was educated at Barnard Castle school.

Rugby playing career

Club level

Clark came through the Leeds Carnegie youth academy, making his debut for the Yorkshire side in 2007. The flanker made 23 appearances in his debut season at Leeds and was called up to the England U20s in 2008. Clark helped the national side to the 2008

IRB Junior World Championship The World Rugby Under 20 Championship (known as the IRB Junior World Championship until 2014) is an international rugby union competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby, and is contested by 12 men's junior nat ...

(JWC) final and was back in the side the following season, this time as captain for both the Six Nations tournament and the JWC campaign where he led England to the final again. Clark played for the Saints senior side on 30 September 2016 as the Midlands side beat

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played its home m ...

20-19 and then went on to score his first try of the 2016/17 season against

Montpellier Herault Rugby Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the department of Hérault. In 2018, 290,053 people li ...

on 15 October. In 2014 Clark started as Northampton beat Saracens to win the Premiership final. On 17 January 2017, it was announced that Clark would make the move to Premiership rivals

on a three-year contract from the 2017-18 season. He subsequently signed a further one-year contract.

Disciplinary record

In 2012, Clark was banned for 32 weeks, the longest ban in English rugby history at the time, for deliberately hyper-extending the arm of Leicester Tigers hooker Rob Hawkins causing a fractured elbow. Such an offence could have attracted an entry point of 5 years, however, the disciplinary panel found that whilst the offence itself was intentional, there was no evidence that Clark intended to cause a serious injury.

International level

Clark led the England Saxons side in 2014 against

Irish Wolfhounds The Ireland Wolfhounds (formerly Ireland A and Ireland B) are the second national rugby union team of Ireland, behind the Ireland national team. They previously competed in the Churchill Cup together with the England Saxons, the national teams ...

. Clark was, then, selected for the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

training squad. He made his England debut when he started against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

on 15 August 2015.

Player support role

In 2021 it was announced that Clark would move to a player psychological support and development role at Saracens. Clark had undertaken post-graduate study in related areas.

References

External links

Leeds profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Callum 1989 births Living people England international rugby union players English rugby union players Leeds Tykes players Northampton Saints players People educated at Barnard Castle School People from Richmond, North Yorkshire Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Stockton-on-Tees Saracens F.C. players