Jeff Probyn (born 27 April 1956 in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) is an English former

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 ...

player. The Old Albanian,

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

and Wasps prop was selected in England's squad for the

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two semi-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 mat ...

, but Probyn did not make his international debut until 1988, at the age of 31, against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Probyn played in the 1991 Rugby World Cup where along with Brian Moore and Jason Leonard he was part of a destructive English front row as they reached the final, losing a tight match 12–6 to Australia at Twickenham. Along with Stuart Barnes,

Wade Dooley Wade Dooley (born 2 October 1957) is an English former rugby union player who played lock forward. He played for England 55 times and was nicknamed the "Blackpool Tower", as a result of being 6 feet 8 inches tall and a police officer with Lanc ...

, Mike Teague, Peter Winterbottom and Jon Webb, Probyn wore the England shirt for the last time in a 17–3 defeat by

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 ...

in 1993. In total, he won 37 caps for England and scored 3 tries. In addition, Probyn toured

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

with a World XV in 1989, played for the Lions against France in 1989 and was a member of the

Wasps FC {{Infobox rugby team , teamname = Wasps Football Club , nickname = , image = , colours = Black and yellow , fullname = , founded = 1867 , ground = Twyford Avenue Sports Ground , capacity = , location = Acton, Ealing, ...

side that won the English Courage league in 1990. Probyn was fairly slight for a modern international

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

, and a good part of his effectiveness can be explained by his unusual physique: his bony shoulders sloped at a sharp angle, he was short in stature and his hips were widely set. In addition, he was able to scrum exceptionally low, making it hard for taller opponents to get any purchase on him at scrum time. Due to Probyn's scrummaging techniques some players took to cutting off the sleeves of their shirts as they believed this was how Jeff managed to get so low down in the scrum and would use the sleeves as leverage. After Probyn continued to keep the scrum incredibly low, it was evident that their sleeve cutting was unnecessary. After retirement from playing, Probyn was a member of ''Club England'', the Rugby Football Union Committee. He was the manager of the England U21 team from 1994 to 1997 during which time he introduced Clive Woodward and Andy Robinson as coaches to representative rugby. After managing the U21 teams tour of Australia, where they played as a warm up for the first ever Cooke cup game between England and Australia, he returned to the RFU council and sat on the Club England group that elected Woodward as England coach. He sat on the 2006 review that saw the replacement of England's World Cup winning coaches with the team, led by Martin Johnson. After leaving the RFU, Probyn was critical of cross-code transfers, such as that of

Andy Farrell Andrew David Farrell (born 30 May 1975) is an English professional rugby union coach and former rugby league and rugby union player. Farrell has been head coach of the Ireland national team since 2019. Farrell earned 34 caps for Great Britai ...

.BBC SPORT , Rugby Union , English , Probyn slams Farrell recruitment
/ref> He also formed The Front Row Union Club F.R.U.C with fellow international front-row forwards Brian Moore and Paul Rendall. Probyn is an Honorary President of

Wooden Spoon A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...

, the charity of British and Irish rugby. Probyn is also a regular on

talkSPORT Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

as their expert on Full Contact. Probyn is also a regular columnist in The Rugby Paper.

Statistics

* Physical: 1.78 metres, 102 kilograms * 37 caps (+ 1 nonofficial) for England * Selections per year: 8 in 1988, 3 in 1989, 7 in 1990, 11 in 1991, 4 in 1992, 4 in 1993 * Five Nations tournaments: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 1992 1993 * World Cups: 1991, 5 matches

References

External links

Wasps profile

Profile at Sporting Heroes

Career statistics at Scrum.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Probyn, Jeff 1956 births Living people Barbarian F.C. players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England England international rugby union players English rugby union players People from Bethnal Green Wasps RFC players Rugby union props 1987 Rugby World Cup players 1991 Rugby World Cup players 20th-century English sportsmen