Joe El-Abd (born 23 February 1980) is a retired

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. He is currently the defence coach for the England men's international rugby team. El-Abd began playing rugby at Hove RFC and at the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

, and after an unsuccessful spell with

Bath Rugby Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground, Bath, Rec ...

, he joined

Caerphilly RFC Caerphilly Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team founded in 1887. Their home ground is The Mollex stadium in Caerphilly and their nickname is ''The Cheesemen''. Caerphilly RFC currently play in the WRU Division One East Central and ...

and later

Bristol Rugby Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

in 2003, where he has spent the best part of his career and become a regular fixture at open-side flanker. As of 2008 he has made over 100 appearances for Bristol and captained the side on several occasions, being named the club's regular captain at the start of the 2008/09 season. He moved to

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

in the French

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

in 2009 playing there until 2012, when he moved to

Oyonnax Oyonnax () is the second most populated commune in the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. Oyonnax lies in a valley of the Jura Mountains in the far north of Ain. It is near the Parc naturel régional du Hau ...

. El-Abd has an English mother and an Egyptian father and is one of three brothers. His younger brother,

Adam El-Abd Adam Mohamad El-Abd (; born 11 September 1984) is a retired professional footballer who played as a defender. El-Abd made over 500 first team appearances in his professional career and also played for the Egypt national team. Early and perso ...

, is a retired professional footballer who played most of his career for

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

References

External links

Bristol Rugby Player ProfileToulon RC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abd, Joe 1980 births Living people Alumni of the University of Bath Bath Rugby players Bristol Bears players English people of Egyptian descent English rugby union players English expatriate rugby union players in France RC Toulon players Rugby union players from Brighton Team Bath rugby union players Rugby union flankers