Darren Wright (born 17 January 1968) is an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

and

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 ...

footballer who played as a or . He spent most of playing career with rugby league club

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

, scoring over 100 tries for the club between 1985 and 1996, and also played briefly for Australian club

North Sydney North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council. History The Indigenous people on the s ...

. He played at representative level for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, winning one cap during the 1988 Lions tour. In 1996, he switched to rugby union, playing for Sale and Orrell.

Background

Darren Wright was born in

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staffor ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. A former Leigh Miners Welfare amateur, Wright was signed by

in March 1985.

Rugby league career

Club career

Wright made his debut for

as a substitute in December 1985 in a league match against

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

. Wright played , and scored a try in Widnes' 6–12 defeat by

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

in the

1988–89 John Player Special Trophy The 1988–89 John Player Special Trophy was the eighteenth season for the competition (named as such due to sponsorship from John Player & Sons). Wigan won the final, beating Widnes by the score of 12-6. The match was played at Burnden Park, B ...

Final during the 1988–89 season at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of England, English association football, football club Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers, who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup final replay, in 1946 it was the sc ...

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

on Saturday 7 January 1989. During the

1989–90 Rugby Football League season The 1989–90 Rugby Football League season was the 95th ever season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Fourteen teams competed from August, 1989 until May, 1990 for the Stones Bitter Championship, Premiership Trophy and Silk Cut ...

, he played for defending champions Widnes at centre in their

1989 World Club Challenge The 1989 World Club Challenge (known for sponsorship reasons as the Foster's World Club Challenge) was the third ever and first official World Club Challenge match. 1989's NSWRL season premiers, the Canberra Raiders travelled to England to play ...

victory against the visiting

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...

. Wright played for

during the

1990 NSWRL season The 1990 New South Wales Rugby League season was the eighty-third season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the premiership season, which culminated in a ...

. Wright played on the in

' 24–18 victory over

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

in the

1990 Lancashire Cup Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno D ...

Final during the 1990–91 season at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

on Saturday 29 September 1990. During the 1991–92 season, Wright played at in the 24–0 victory over

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

in the 1991–92 Regal Trophy Final at Central Park, Wigan on 11 January 1992. Darren Wright's

Testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

took place in 1995.

Representative career

Wright was called up for the

1988 Great Britain Lions tour The 1988 Great Britain Lions tour was the Great Britain national rugby league team's 18th tour of Australasia and took place from May to July 1988. It started with a Test match (rugby league), Test match against Papua New Guinea national rugby le ...

as a replacement for the injured

Shaun Edwards Shaun Edwards, OBE (born 17 October 1966) is an English rugby union coach and former rugby league player, who is the defence coach for the France national team. A or , Edwards is the most decorated player in rugby league history, with 37 win ...

. He came on a substitute in the second test match against Australia on 28 June 1988. This was Wright's only cap for the senior Great Britain side.

Rugby union career

In July 1996, Wright joined

club Sale, along with fellow Widnes teammates John Devereux and

Adrian Hadley Adrian Michael Hadley (born 1 March 1963) is a Welsh former List of dual-code rugby internationals, dual-code international rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and Coach (sport), coached rugby ...

. After one season at the club, he moved to Orrell.

References

External links

Rugby union statistics
at Statbunker {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Darren 1968 births Living people English rugby league players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Leigh, Greater Manchester Widnes Vikings players North Sydney Bears players Great Britain national rugby league team players Great Britain under-21 national rugby league team players Lancashire rugby league team players English rugby union players Sale Sharks players Orrell R.U.F.C. players 20th-century English sportsmen