Paul Christian Sampson (born 12 July 1977) is an 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 ...

and

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 ...

player who played at

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

or full-back for

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club () was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from ...

, Blackheath,

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

, plus

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home fixtures at the DIY Kitchen Stadium, Belle Vue (Wakefield), Belle Vue and currently compete in the Super League, the top tier o ...

and

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, England. They play their home games at Plough Lane and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rugby le ...

Background

Paul Sampson was born in

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford, n ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England.

Early years

In 1995 Sampson was named man-of-the-match in England Schools' record 30-3 win against Australia. In the summer of 1996, he won the England Schools 100 metres title in 10.48 seconds, beating

Dwain Chambers Dwain Anthony Chambers (born 5 April 1978) is a British track and field, track Sprint (running), sprinter. He has won international medals at World and European levels and is one of the fastest European sprinters in the history of athletics (spo ...

. In July that year he was called into the England rugby squad while still attending

Woodhouse Grove School Woodhouse Grove School ('The Grove') is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private, co-educational, Boarding school, day and boarding school and sixth form. it is located to the north of Apperley Bridge, West Yorkshire, England (Apperle ...

.Telegraph.co.uk article from 31 December 2000
accessed 5 August 2007

Career

Sampson won his first England cap against

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 ...

at the end of the 1998 Southern hemisphere tour. He won two further caps, both against Canada on the summer North America tour in 2001. All three of his England appearances came on the wing. He also played Sevens for England. Sampson most notably played for Premiership side London Wasps between 1996 and 2004, appearing for them in over 100 games, including the victorious 1999

Anglo-Welsh Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

Final. He later played for five years at Championship London Welsh from 2006 to 2011, again playing over 100 matches. Sampson had two spells in

; with

in 2000, and with

in 2004.

Personal life

Sampson's long-term partner and wife was

Kirsty Gallacher Kirsty Jane Gallacher (born 20 January 1976) is a British television presenter and model. She began her career at Sky Sports News in 1998 and hosted '' Kirsty's Home Videos'', '' RI:SE'' and '' Simply the Best'' before returning to Sky Sports N ...

, by whom he has two children, Oscar and Jude. They divorced in August 2015.Kirsty Gallacher in IMDb
accessed 5 August 2007 He is the cousin of sprinter Denise Ramsden, and former

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 ...

international Dean Sampson. Paul's father is Brian Sampson,

Malcolm Malcolm, Malcom, Máel Coluim, or Maol Choluim may refer to: People * Malcolm (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Malcom (footballer) (born 1997), Brazilian football forward * Clan Malcolm * Maol Choluim de Innerp ...

, and Dave Sampson's elder brother.

References

External links

London Welsh profileWasps profileSampson Signs For Rest Of The SeasonSetbacks spur Sampson on comeback trailA Hiding to Nothing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sampson, Paul 1977 births Living people 20th-century English sportsmen 21st-century English sportsmen Bath Rugby players England international rugby union players English rugby league players English rugby union players London Broncos players People educated at Woodhouse Grove School Rugby league players from Keighley Rugby union players from Keighley Rugby union wings Wakefield Trinity players Wasps RFC players Worcester Warriors players