William St Lawrence Webb Collier (born 5 May 1991) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

professional

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 who plays as a

tighthead prop In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

for

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 ...

club

Castres Olympique Castres Olympique (, ) is a French rugby union club located in the Occitanian city of Castres and is currently competing in the Top 14, the top level of the French league system. Founded in 1898, the club took its current name in 1906. They pla ...

Career

Collier is a front row specialist who cites his interest in the 'dark arts' (of scrummaging) inspired in part by Chris Ritchie, a veteran

London Welsh RFC 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 ...

player and

Joe Launchbury Joseph Oliver Launchbury (born 12 April 1991) is a former English rugby union lock. He represented England at international level and previously played for the under-18s and under-20s before making his Test debut in 2012. Launchbury plays ma ...

, a former England Rugby international. His first club was

Rosslyn Park F.C. Rosslyn Park Football Club is a rugby union club based in south west London currently playing in National League 1 - a tier 3 league in the English rugby union system. History Founded in 1879 by cricketing friends in north London, at the end o ...

where he began at six years old and played in their mini, youth and First XV squads. Collier joined the Harlequins academy at the age of fourteen. In January 2011 he made his club debut for Quins against

Wasps RFC Wasps Rugby Football Club was a professional rugby union team. They last played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby, until being suspended on 12 October 2022. On 17 October 2022, the club entered administration, resulting in ...

in a 2010–11 Anglo-Welsh Cup fixture. Collier represented

England U20 England national under-20 football team, also known as England Under-20s or England U20(s) or England Men's Elite Squad, represents England in association football at an under-20 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the gov ...

during the

2011 Six Nations Under 20s Championship The 2011 Six Nations Under 20s Championship was a rugby union competition held between February and March 2011. England won the tournament along with the Grand Slam and the Triple Crown. Final table Results Round one Round two Round th ...

and appeared as a substitute in the last round as they defeated

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

to complete a grand slam. Later that year he was a member of their squad at the

2011 IRB Junior World Championship The 2011 IRB Junior World Championship was the fourth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaced the now defunct under 19 and under 21 world championships. The event was organised by rugby' ...

and came off the bench in the final which England lost against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

to finish runners up. Collier was on the substitutes bench when Harlequins overcame

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 ...

in the 2012 Premiership final to become league champions for the first time in their history. In March 2013 Collier started for the side that defeated

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 ...

to win the

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 ...

. He scored his debut try for Harlequins in a

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pr ...

defeat to

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

in the pool stage of the 2017–18 season. Collier was included in the senior

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 ...

squad for their 2017 tour of Argentina. On 10 June 2017 he made his

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) ...

debut as a substitute against

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 ...

. A week later Collier scored a try as England won the series. Ultimately these were his only two caps. In the 2020–21 season, Collier was a replacement in both the Premiership semi-final victory over

Bristol Bears 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 ...

and the final against

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

on 26 June 2021, as Harlequins won the game 40–38 in the highest scoring Premiership final ever. The following year saw Collier start for an England XV side in an uncapped match against the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

. In his final season at Harlequins Collier started for the side that were eliminated by

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 ...

in the semi-final of the 2024 Champions Cup. After more than a decade with Harlequins making 240 club appearances, Collier joined

for the 2024–25 season.

International career

International tries

Honours

Harlequins * 2× Premiership: 2011–12,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

* 1×

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

England U20 * 1×

Six Nations Under 20s Championship The Six Nations Under 20s Championship is an international rugby union tournament. It is the under-20s equivalent of the Six Nations Championship. Originally the tournament was in an under-21 format but changed to under-20s in 2008. England ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

* 1×

World Rugby U20 Championship The World Rugby Under 20 Championship (known as the IRB Junior World Championship until 2014) is an annual international rugby union competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby World Rugby is the governing ...

runner up:

References

External links

Harlequins ProfileEngland Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collier, Will 1991 births Living people England international rugby union players English rugby union players Castres Olympique players Harlequin F.C. players People from Hammersmith Rugby union players from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Rugby union props People educated at Cranleigh School