Daniel Darko Luger MBE (born 11 January 1975) is a former English

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

international who was a member of the squad that won the 2003

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

Rugby career

Club career

Dan Luger was born in

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...

and is the son of a Croatian father (head of Croatia's rugby federation) and

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

mother. Dan was firstly educated at Ashton House School, then moving on to

Latymer Upper School Latymer Upper School is a public school in Hammersmith, London, England, on King Street. It derives from a charity school, and is part of the same 1624 Latymer Foundation, from a bequest by the English legal official Edward Latymer. There ...

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

joining local club Richmond as a junior. Dan Luger played top flight rugby as a left or right wing for a number of England Premiership clubs from 1994 to 2003. He began as a junior at Richmond graduating to the senior XV before his twentieth birthday. Then he went on to play for he play for Orrel where he was first selected for the national team at U-21 level. His blistering pace stopped Orrell being relegated that season and he moved on to his first spell at Harlequins where he prospered earning the first of his full England caps. Luger suffered a series of injuries but was harlequins highest try scorer. He left the club following 1998–99 season and the Rugby World Cup where England lost in the quarter final to South Africa. He made the second highest metres gained in the tournament behind Jonah Lomu. He joined London rivals

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

for two injury hit seasons before returning to Harlequins where he continued being one of England and the British and Irish Lions star players. In 2003 he began a three-season stint with USA Perpignan in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

where he became a French top 14 champion. On leaving Perpignan he played for

RC Toulon Rugby Club Toulonnais (), also referred to as Rugby Club Toulon or simply Toulon, is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon and competing in the Top 14. Located on the French Riviera, in the Provence region, the club plays its h ...

where he went on to win the French pro D2 championship and was the club's highest try scorer and Rugby Nice Côte d'Azur where he combined playing with a coaching role.

International career

Although plagued by injury, his international record is exceptional: 24 tries in 38 matches. Only five players have scored more England tries having started his international career by scoring in both of his first two internationals against the Netherlands and Italy in

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

qualifiers in 1998. He made his first appearance for England A against Argentina at Northampton in December 1996 having played earlier that year in the World Students Cup in South Africa and for England U21s. Luger made his international début in 1998, showing promise in the autumn 1999 World Cup qualification games, one against the Netherlands. He played in the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup () was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's History of rugby union#The professional era, professional era. Four a ...

, scoring a notable try against

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. In November 2000, Luger scored a famous last minute match-winning try in an versus match. Iain Balshaw kicked ahead and he touched down in the corner, with eight minutes of injury time played. During the 2001 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia, Luger scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

of tries in the opening match against

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. However, an injury ended his tour, when he fractured a cheekbone in a training accident. A try from him topped the 42-6 Grand Slam victory over

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...

back in April 2003 and he was again on the score sheet in August when he touched down in England's 43-9 humbling of

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

during the World Cup warm-up matches. He came on as an illegal substitute during the England-

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

game at the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...

, when the player he was intended to replace ( Mike Tindall) hadn't left the field before Luger came on. Luger even made a tackle before being ordered off the field again. This led to a dispute over whether England should be fined, or perhaps even docked points as a penalty for having sixteen players on the field for a short period of time. Ultimately England were fined £10,000. He did not receive a cap for this appearance, a decision made by Clive Woodward. He was an integral part of the world champion winning side. Luger was also a notable England Sevens player playing at international level for a number of years to 2006.

Bobsleigh

In 2009, along with Olympic medalists, Jason Gardener and Craig MacLean, and World Championship medal-winning decathlete, Dean Macey, he took part in the British Bobsleigh Championships at

Cesana Pariol Cesana Pariol was the venue for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The track, built for the games, is located in Cesana Torinese. The venue holds approximately 7,130 spectators, of whom 3,624 are se ...

in Italy. He was given the position of driver and his brakeman was Craig. They qualified for the British championship. However, during their initial run Craig suffered several injuries after a collision on the track, and the duo were forced to withdraw from the competition on advice from medical specialists.

Financial services career

Luger has worked in financial sales, trading and hedge funds.

Peace Commitment

Dan Luger is a member of the 'Champions for Peace' club, a group of famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by

Peace and Sport Peace and Sport (also known as "L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport") is a sports organization based in Monaco under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco. Ivorian Football player, footballer Didier Drogba became the organization's ...

, a

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

-based international organization.Peace and Sport
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References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luger, Dan 1975 births Living people British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England England international rugby union players English people of Croatian descent English people of Czech descent English rugby union players Harlequin F.C. players Members of the Order of the British Empire Orrell R.U.F.C. players People educated at Latymer Upper School Rugby union players from the London Borough of Hounslow Rugby union wings Saracens F.C. players USA Perpignan players People from Chiswick 1999 Rugby World Cup players 2003 Rugby World Cup players English expatriate rugby union players in France Rugby Nice Côte d'Azur players