Matt Banahan: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 09:39, 15 February 2010
| Full name | Matthew Banahan | ||||||||
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| Height | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | ||||||||
| Weight | 18 st 1 lb (253 lb; 115 kg) | ||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||
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Matt Banahan (born 18 December 1986 in Jersey) is a rugby union player for Bath in the Guinness Premiership. His main position is Template:Wing, and he can also operate as an outside Template:Rugbycentre.
Early life
Banahan grew up playing hockey, earning selection to the Jersey and West of England junior representative sides before he decided his hockey career was stalled and switching to rugby union.[1]
Club career
He was previously with the London Irish Academy and was brought to the Recreation Ground as a Template:Lock. [2]
Banahan joined Bath Rugby from the London Irish Academy in the summer of 2006. The giant wing, who only took up rugby a few years ago after deciding that he was not going to get any further in his hockey career (he has represented Jersey and the West of England), has also been involved with the RFU’s Junior National Academy set-up and, more recently, England's sevens set up.
Unsurprisingly given his physical attributes, he started as a lock but switched to wing where his powerful combination of size, strength and speed made him a potent weapon in the Bath United and Development sides, for whom he scored ten tries in fourteen games last season.
Quickly promoted to the first team from the Academy set up, the lethal wing has made 26 first grade appearances and finished the 2007/08 season as the club’s top try scorer (16) and the Guinness Premiership regular season’s second highest (10) behind Leicester’s Tom Varndell (13).
International career
He was selected for the "wider" England Sevens squad in the 2007-08 IRB Sevens World Series, which refers to a pool of players who supplement the 11 core squad members. As a member of the wider squad, he is eligible for selection for up to four of the eight events in the tournament.[1]. He was also selected for the England Saxons squad to play in the 2008 Churchill Cup[3] and scored 3 tries on his debut. He then scored two tries against Ireland A and one in the final which they won. The final was against Scotland A which they won to retain their title.
Jersey-born Matt Banahan celebrated his England Saxons debut by scoring a hat trick in England's 64-10 victory over the USA in the opening round of the 2008 Barclays Churchill Cup.
Banahan played for England on Saturday 30 May 2009 against the Barbarians at Twickenham in an uncapped game where he scored a try.
He was called up to the England squad for their summer tour replacing David Strettle who was ruled out through injury.
Banahan made his full England debut on 6 June 2009 in a comfortable win over Argentina at Old Trafford where he also scored a try and was named 'Man of the Match'. He also scored in the away defeat to the same opponents the following week.
He retained his place for England's 2009 Autumn series against Australia, Argentina and New Zealand, scoring his third international try in the win against Argentina.
Personal life
In his spare time he enjoys, golf and going to the cinema. He would most like to meet Muhammad Ali. Alongside his England 7s exploits, he names his debut for Bath against Worcester and his England Saxons debut as his finest rugby moment to date.
References
- ^ a b "Banahan selected for England squad". BBC. 5 September 2006. Retrieved 7 January 2008.
- ^ "Travagli and Banahan join Bath". Bath Rugby. 12 June 2006. Retrieved 7 January 2008.
- ^ "England Squad for 2008 Churchill Cup". England Rugby. Retrieved 9 June 2008.