Matt Cairns (born 31 March 1979) is a 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 ...

footballer who played at hooker for Harlequins and has been capped for the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

national side as well as representing England in the

Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

and Sevens teams as well as at several age group levels. He also played for a season with

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

and has had two spells with

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 ...

. He retired on 14 February 2012 due to medical advice.

Early life

Born 31 March 1979 in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

, Cairns attended

Wirral Grammar School for Boys Wirral Grammar School for Boys is an 11–18 boys State school, maintained Selective school, selective grammar school founded in 1931. It is situated on a site to the west of Port Sunlight at Cross Lane, Bebington, on the Wirral Peninsula in En ...

where he made his first representative appearances for the North Under-16s, followed by games at colts level for London and England while playing for

Wirral Rugby Club Wirral Rugby Football Club is a Rugby union, rugby union club based in Thornton Common Road, Clatterbridge, Wirral Peninsula, Wirral, England. It has many mini, junior teams from under-7s upwards, and runs colts and four senior men's teams, a la ...

. An all round sportsman, he also had trials for

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...

He then attended

Brunel University Brunel University of London (BUL) is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. It became a university ...

, playing at the time for England Students.

Playing career

Saracens 1998–2003

Cairns' first professional club was Saracens, joining the club's academy system and making two appearances for the first team as a substitute in the 1998–99 season, followed by a debut appearance in the starting line up the following season, along with several more bench appearances. In his third season he made several appearances in Saracens starting XVs and also recorded his maiden try. In the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons Cairns was making regular first team appearances, with 2003 bringing another step up the international ladder, touring with the

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emerg ...

in their

Churchill Cup The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada national rugby union team, Canada, England Saxons, England, the United States national rugby union te ...

campaign. It was clear that in the 2003–04 season it became clear that Cairns would competing for his place with French captain

Raphaël Ibañez Raphaël Ibañez (born 17 February 1973) is a retired French rugby union footballer. A hooker, he played for the France national team 98 times, and as captain 41 times. After a career in club rugby management, he became Team Manager for France ...

who had just been signed by Saracens, and he returned to the north for a spell with

Sale Sharks 2003–04

Cairns spent a single season with

, making ten starting appearances in their Guinness Premiership campaign, with a further eight bench appearances and scoring four Premiership tries. He was once again called into the England Saxons side for their 2004 Churchill Cup tour, before returning to Saracens.

Saracens 2004–2012

Cairns was soon a regular starter in Saracens line ups once again, despite facing competition for his place from the likes of Italian international

Fabio Ongaro Fabio Ongaro (born 23 September 1977 in Venice) is an Italian rugby union footballer. Although he now plays as a hooker, he played in the Italian youth teams as a flanker. Career Ongaro first played for Rugby Casale (1994/95-1997/98), spending th ...

and Ireland's Shane Byrne, making more than 20 appearances in each season since his return to Vicarage Road. In the 2006–07 season he passed the 150 cap mark for Saracens in all competitions. In the same season he reached another landmark when he was called up to the full

side for their summer tour to South Africa, earning his first, and to date, only cap as a replacement during the first test against the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabhokobhoko) is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

on 26 May 2007 before falling victim to the virus that prevented many England players being considered for the second test. He signed a new contract with Saracens in 2006, that if completed will see Cairns mark ten years of service with the club. Following the 2008/09 season Cairns was one of the bunch who were released by

. Cairns has recently signed with London club Harlequins and was named on the bench in the LV= Cup Match against The Llanelli Scarlet's.

References

External links

Saracens profile

Guinness Premiership profile

scrum.com Profile

RFU Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cairns, Matt 1979 births Living people Rugby union hookers England international rugby union players English rugby union players Saracens F.C. players Alumni of Brunel University London People educated at Wirral Grammar School for Boys Rugby union players from Birkenhead