Shaun Perry (born 4 May 1978) is a former English

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

footballer, who last played for

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top division of domestic ...

in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is th ...

. His usual position was at

scrum half Scrum may refer to: Sport * Scrum (rugby), a method of restarting play in rugby union and rugby league ** Scrum (rugby union), scrum in rugby union * Scrum, an offensive melee formation in Japanese game Bo-taoshi Media and popular culture ...

Perry began playing rugby in the Youth Section o
Dudley Kingswinford RFC
at age 7. He rose through the age groups to eventually make his senior debut in the DKRFC Colts team. The next year at age 18 he was playing for the 1st XV, where he played for seven seasons before joining Coventry.

Biography

Born 4 May 1978 in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 United ...

, Perry started his career at Dudley Kingswinford in tier 4 of the English club game. He scored over 270 points for the Midlands team including 52 tries with the highlight of his stay being the 2001-02 season where he was the league's top scorer with 25 tries, helping Dudley Kingswinford to a runners up spot and almost gaining promotion (they lost the playoff match). Perry's point scoring exploits saw him be picked up by another Midlands team,

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

, whom he played for in National Division One for two seasons, during which time he scored a try in a match against his future club, Bristol. After eleven games for Bristol during the 2005–06 season, Perry was called up into the England A squad. He was given the captaincy for the match against Ireland A. Towards the end of the 2005–06 season, Perry sustained a wrist injury which ruled him out for approximately eight weeks of play, and therefore also put him out of contention to represent England during the summer

test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

s to Australia, for a two-test Cook Cup series. In August 2006, Perry was included in the 2006–07 England Elite Player Squad. In October 2006, Perry was named in the squad that would compete in the

2006 Autumn Internationals The 2006 end of year tests, also known as the 2006 Autumn Internationals, refers to several international rugby union matches that took place during November 2006 principally between touring teams from the southern hemisphere – Australia, Argentin ...

against New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina. Perry scored a try for on his debut against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

on 5 November 2006, though England were defeated 41–20. Perry made another appearance for England on 24 February against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in the 2007 Six Nations match at

Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and h ...

. He came on as a substitute replacing

Harry Ellis Harry Alistair Ellis (born 17 May 1982 in Leicester) is a retired English rugby union footballer who played scrum half for Leicester Tigers, England and the British & Irish Lions. On 8 July 2010, Ellis announced his retirement from the gam ...

. Perry gave away a try and a conversion after having his pass intercepted, providing an easy touch down for the Irish. However, having lost a stone in preparation for fighting for a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

place, his next game for England was a Man-of-the-Match performance against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in a World Cup warm-up match at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the borou ...

on 4 August 2007. A poor performance against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

in the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to ...

led to Perry being dropped from the 22 by England coach Brian Ashton. He missed the

2008 Six Nations Championship The 2008 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2008 RBS 6 Nations because of sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the ninth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, the 114th series of the international championship. Fifteen ...

after sustaining a fractured windpipe against

Harlequin F.C. Harlequins (officially Harlequin Football Club) is a professional rugby union club that plays in Premiership Rugby, the top level of English rugby union. Their home ground is the Twickenham Stoop, located in Twickenham, south-west London. Fou ...

where he was caught with a stray boot. Perry was a welder before turning to a career in professional rugby. Perry joined French club

CA Brive Club Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin, also referred to as CA Brive, Brive () or CAB, is a French professional rugby union club based in Brive-la-Gaillarde, in the Corrèze department. They compete in the first-tier Top 14 competition. Bri ...

for the 2009-10 Top 14 season. In February 2011, it was announced that Perry has signed for

for the 2011/12 season.

Injury and retirement

In October 2012, he went down with a knee injury which required an operation and he was out for six months. In June 2013, he announced his retirement from rugby and a high contributing factor was the knee injury and operation from earlier in the year.

Honours

Dudley Kingswinford *

National Division Three North National League 2 North is one of three, level four leagues in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in the northern half of England, the North. The remainder of England is covered by the two coun ...

runners up: 2001-02 *National Division Three North top try scorer (25 tries): 2001-02

References

External links

England profile

Dudley Kingswinford RFC

BBC: Shaun Perry to make international debut and Shaun Perry photo gallery

Bristol Rugby-Shaun Perry

Shaun Perry photo by sportingheroes.net

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Shaun 1978 births Living people Bristol Bears players CA Brive players Coventry R.F.C. players England international rugby union players English expatriate rugby union players English expatriate sportspeople in France English rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in France Rugby union players from Wolverhampton Rugby union scrum-halves