Tobias Gerald Albert Lieven Flood (born 8 August 1985) 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 ...
coach and former player. He is currently kicking and skills coach at
Newcastle Falcons
Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union.
The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...
in
Premiership Rugby
Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...
. During his playing career his position was
fly half or
inside centre. He played over 300 games in his club career across his three professional clubs,
Newcastle Falcons
Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union.
The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...
,
Toulouse
Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
and
Leicester Tigers
Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...
. He played 60 international matches for
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 ...
between 2006 and 2014.
Early life
Toby Flood was born on 8 August 1985 at
Frimley Park Hospital in
Frimley
Frimley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath, in Surrey, England. It lies approximately south-west of central London. The town is of Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Saxon origin, although it is not listed in Domesday Book of 1086.
Hi ...
, Surrey. Both of his grandfathers were actors. His paternal grandfather,
Gerald Flood, voiced the robot
companion Kamelion in ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
''. His maternal grandfather was German actor
Albert Lieven
Albert Lieven (born Albert Fritz Liévin; 22 June 1906 – 22 December 1971) was a German actor.
Early life
Lieven was born in Olsztynek, Hohenstein, German Empire. His father was the head physician of the Tuberculosis sanatorium Hohenstein, ...
, who appeared in ''
The Guns of Navarone'', and his maternal grandmother was English actress
Susan Shaw. Flood's father (Tim) was Theatre Manager of the National Theatre, London, General Manager at the Redgrave Theatre, Farnham and (2013) the Programme and Marketing manager of the Customs House Theatre,
South Shields
South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...
.
Flood was brought up in
Morpeth, Northumberland
Morpeth is a historic market town in Northumberland, England, lying on the River Wansbeck. Nearby towns include Ashington, Northumberland, Ashington and Bedlington, Northumberland, Bedlington. In the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census, th ...
where he attended Chantry School. He also went to the
Kings School in
Tynemouth
Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne, hence its name. It is east-northeast of Newcastle up ...
. Flood graduated from
Northumbria University
Northumbria University (legally the University of Northumbria at Newcastle) is a Public research university, public research university located in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, North East of England. It has been a university since 199 ...
in 2007 with a degree in business management, and has also undertaken a Graduate Diploma in Law, in preparation for his planned post-rugby career as a lawyer.
Club career
Newcastle Falcons
A product of the Falcons academy, his third year at the university was completed on a part-time basis due to his rugby commitments.
Jonny Wilkinson trained the Kings School first team while Flood was a student there.
Leicester Tigers
On 3 May 2008, it was announced that Flood was set to leave Newcastle Falcons for
Leicester Tigers
Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...
. He was officially confirmed as a Leicester player on 11 June 2008.
As a Tigers player, he settled at fly-half, having been switched between centre and fly-half in his career up until then. He was the first to top their points scoring list in a debut season since
Dusty Hare in 1976–77. His debut game was in the first game of the season, against Gloucester, in which he managed to score a try. The shine came off his season, however, when he injured his Achilles tendon in the
2008–09 Heineken Cup semi-final game against Cardiff Blues – right before professional rugby's first ever sudden-death kicking competition. He was unable to take part in either of the Tigers' finals that year.
The injury ruled Flood out of the first two months of the 2009–10 season as well, and he returned in November, in a
2009–10 LV= Cup win against
Newport Gwent Dragons. He stayed relatively injury-free for the rest of the season, however, and his good form helped the Tigers to top the table. They went on to win the
2009–10 Guinness Premiership final 33–27 against
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 ...
.
Flood captained the Tigers to victory over fierce rivals Northampton Saints in the
2013 Premiership Rugby final. On 21 December 2013, it was announced that Flood would leave the Tigers.
Toulouse
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
reported that Flood had signed for
Toulouse
Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
.
Return to Newcastle Falcons and retirement
On 9 May 2017, it was announced that Flood would return to
Newcastle Falcons
Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union.
The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...
for the 2017–18 season, signalling a return to his first top-flight club more than 9 years after he left them for Tigers. On 6 September 2021 Flood announced his retirement from playing and his new role as kicking and skills coach for Newcastle.
International career

In the autumn of 2006, he came on twice as a fly-half replacement for England, his first cap coming in the defeat to
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
. With
Brian Ashton installed as the new England head coach, Flood was selected in the Elite squad for England's
2007 Six Nations campaign. Flood came on as a replacement in the game against to win his fourth England cap. He started his first game for England against at Twickenham and went on to score a try, helping England to a 26–18 victory. His personal points tally in the match was 16 points. Flood also started in the defeat to .
Ashton included Flood in the Elite squad for
2007 Rugby World Cup
The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...
campaign of France, as a replacement for then Newcastle teammate
Jamie Noon. He came on as a substitute in the quarter-final against
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, which England won 12–10. Flood also came off the bench in the semi-final win over
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 ...
and in the loss in the World Cup final to
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 ...
. He scored England's opening try in the
2008 Six Nations game against Wales, and managed another the following game against .
After acting as a substitute in the first two games of the
2009 Six Nations, Flood started the away game against , and held onto the fly-half jersey for the remaining two wins against France and Scotland. His achilles injury saw him lose it to former clubmate
Jonny Wilkinson for the 2009 autumn internationals, but he started the first
2010 Six Nations game against Wales at inside centre, due to an injury to
Riki Flutey. He finished the Six Nations once more in possession of the England 10 shirt during the game against France, and retained it for the summer tour. Although England lost the first game, Flood was able to link up with his club colleague
Ben Youngs
Benjamin Ryder Youngs (born 5 September 1989) is a former English professional rugby union player who played as a Scrum-half (rugby union), scrum-half for Premiership Rugby club Leicester Tigers, and is the List of England national rugby union ...
in a strong half-back pairing in the second. A much improved performance saw England beat Australia 20–21.

Flood's link with Youngs developed over the autumn internationals, starting with a good display in a loss to New Zealand. The team peaked in the Test against Australia, in which Flood had an immaculate game with the boot. He scored 25 points, which is the most points recorded by an Englishman against the Wallabies.
He also helped England to a victory over Samoa, but was injured early into the last game with South Africa, and later revealed he couldn't remember anything after the incident.
In the
2011 Six Nations, Flood and Youngs again combined to great success, Flood gaining man of the match for a strong display against Wales at the Millennium Stadium. He was also a key component in several of the tries scored against Italy, developing a key relationship with wing
Chris Ashton.
Despite Flood's good form for England during their Championship-winning 2011 Six Nations, he dropped for Jonny Wilkinson by the start of the
2011 Rugby World Cup
The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...
. Flood started the quarter-final defeat to France at inside centre.
Flood was a hot favourite for the England captaincy when Stuart Lancaster took over from Martin Johnson after the World Cup. However he was not available for much of the 2012 Six Nations and Owen Farrell seized his chance at fly half. Flood regained his position on the tour to South Africa and in the autumn internationals of that year. A combination of injuries and Lancaster's preference for Owen Farrell's pragmatic approach, as well as Farrell's key role in England's shock win over New Zealand, limited his game time after this.
Flood's final start for England was against Italy in the 2013 Six Nations tournament. He effectively ended his England career by signing for Top 14 club Toulouse.
In an interview with ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' on 21 August 2017, Flood revealed that he would consider resurrecting his Test career by playing rugby for
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. Changes to the
World Rugby
World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...
eligibility regulations introduced in 2017 allow a player to make a one-time switch of nationality by playing in an Olympic event for the player's new country, provided that said player has not represented his or her first country for three years and holds nationality in the second country. Flood applied for a German passport following the 2016
Brexit
Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU).
Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...
vote, and has already satisfied the three-year stand-down period.
References
External links
Leicester Tigers profileEngland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flood, Toby
1985 births
Living people
British people of Prussian descent
England international rugby union players
English people of German descent
English rugby union players
Leicester Tigers players
Newcastle Falcons players
People educated at The King's School, Tynemouth
Rugby union centres
Rugby union fly-halves
Rugby union players from Frimley
Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge
Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players
2007 Rugby World Cup players
2011 Rugby World Cup players
Stade Toulousain players
English expatriate rugby union players in France