Danny Grewcock

Danny Grewcock

Personal information
Full name	Daniel Jonathan Grewcock
Date of birth	(1972-11-07) 7 November 1972
Place of birth	Coventry, England
Height	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
Weight	119 kg (18 st 10 lb)[1]
School	Eastern Green Woodlands
University	Manchester Met.
Youth clubs
Years Club 1989-94 Barkers Butts
Youth representative teams
Years Team Apps (points) English students
Senior clubs*
Years Club Apps (points) 1994–1997 1997–2001 2001–2011 Coventry Saracens Bath 33(15) 63 (25) 154 (30)
Representative teams
1997–2007 2001–2005 England Lions 69 (10) 5 (0)
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only.

Daniel Jonathan Grewcock MBE (born 7 November 1972) is a retired English rugby union rugby lock who played for Bath, England and the British and Irish Lions. He also spent time at Coventry RFC and Saracens.

Early life

Grewcock was born in Coventry and attended Templars Primary School in Tile Hill then the secondary in Eastern Green Woodlands School, Coventry, during his secondary education (September 1984 to July 1989). His career started with Barkers Butts and Coventry and playing for the Warwickshire U21 side at age 19.

He is a graduate of Manchester Metropolitan University.^[2]

Rugby career

In 1996–97 he moved into the professional ranks with Coventry. It would be Coventry's most successful period of the modern era, coming within touching distance of the Premiership. Along the way, with Grewcock an ever-present, they beat a Newcastle Falcons side featuring 15 internationals by 19-18^[3] at Coundon Road. They would eventually finish third to the well- funded Newcastle and champions Richmond but lost a promotion play-off against London Irish despite taking a narrow first leg advantage to Sunbury. Despite their second- tier status, both Grewcock and Rob Hardwick were capped by England in this era.

That first cap for England came on the in 1997 tour to Argentina, scoring his first international try in the test in Buenos Aires. He was sent off during England's 1998 trip to New Zealand. He joined Saracens later that summer but switched to Bath for the 2001–02 season.

He played in all three Test matches for the Lions against the Wallabies and in 6 of the 10 tour matches. The tour brought out the best in Grewcock and he matched the performances of fellow lock Martin Johnson with his own strongest performances.

He was only able to make one appearance on the pitch during the 2003 World Cup after breaking a hand in the Uruguay match and missing earlier games in the competition due to a toe injury incurred during a bout of 'happy stamping'. His injuries left head coach Clive Woodward with no choice but to fly out Simon Shaw as a replacement, although Simon Shaw played no active part in England's World Cup campaign. He finally received his World Cup medal in December 2004.

Grewcock returned to domestic rugby union with Bath and produced some outstanding rugby, which led to his international recall as the successor for Martin Johnson in the Six Nations. He was arguably England's player of the tournament, while his club form remained superb. He started in all three Autumn 2004 tests.

He was selected for the 2005 Lions tour to New Zealand. He was suspended for two months after being found guilty of biting All Blacks hooker Keven Mealamu during the first Test on 25 June.

Grewcock continued to play for England in the Six Nations Championship, where he received a yellow card against Ireland. Grewcock's excellent performances for his clubside Bath made him a favourite for the 2007 World Cup, however he received a suspension that ruled him out of the World Cup.

Grewcock has signed a new 1-year extension to his Bath contract, which will keep him there until the end of the 2010/11 season. His quality performances show no signs of relenting, which many feel deserve him an England recall.

Discipline problems

Incidents on international duty

He earned a five-week ban for a kicking offence after being sent off in 1998 at Carisbrook and six years later he copped a six-week suspension after being found guilty of reckless use of his boot on Daniel Carter. When he returned in 2005 with the Lions, Grewcock was banned for two months for biting Keven Mealamu's finger, which had somehow found its way into Grewcock's mouth. The suggestion that Mealamu had been in the process of hooking Grewcock's mouth was not proven, but the length of suspension given to Grewcock was way below that usually given to a player found guilty of biting. He was also responsible for kicking Wales scrum half Dwayne Peel in the face during Wales' 11–9 victory over England in 2005. He received a yellow card after stepping over a ruck to try to win the ball before the scrum half had picked it up.

Incidents with Bath Rugby

On 8 September 2002 he was sent-off following a clash with his one-time flatmate Kyran Bracken in Bath Rugby's 28–3 Zurich Premiership defeat to Saracens.^[4] Despite Bracken claiming that the incident was an accident,^[5] Grewcock was initially banned for five-weeks after being found guilty of reckless use of his boot.^[6] Bath Rugby elected to appeal the ban^[7] with Bracken agreeing to appear on Grewcock's behalf in the appeal hearing.^[8] With Bracken's support and new photographic evidence of the incident,^[9] the appeal was successful and Grewcock's ban quashed.^[10] In March 2003, he was cited by the RFU of two counts of striking another player during Bath Rugby's 27–10 Zurich Premiership home defeat to Northampton Saints on 15 March 2003.^[11] Grewcock was found not guilty of both striking charges but the unsporting behaviour complaint, where he was accused of ripping up the scrum-cap of Northampton lock Mark Connors, was upheld and a fine of £500 issued.^[9] An eventful season culminated with the receipt of a red card, for punching Lawrence Dallaglio, in Bath Rugby's 30–48 European Challenge Cup final defeat to London Wasps on 25 May 2003.^[12] A post match disciplinary hearing saw Grewcock suspended for 14-days, with the suspension commencing on 1 June 2003 and consequently ruling him out of the New Zealand leg of England's summer tour of Australasia.^[13] Consequently, having originally been named in the original 37-man touring party, he was replaced in the touring party by Tom Palmer.^[14]

Following a citing,^[15] Grewcock pleaded guilty to stamping on Nathan Bonner-Evans in Bath Rugby's 18–16 home Guinness Premiership victory over Sale Sharks on 22 December 2006. He received a one-week suspension for the offence.^[16] The same season saw him cited a second time, this time for an alleged punch on Thibault Privat in Bath Rugby's 22–16 defeat by Clermont Auvergne in the European Challenge Cup final on 19 May 2007.^[17] He was found guilty and suspended for the period 8 June – 15 September 2007 which, taking into account the close season of inactivity, meant that he was suspended from playing rugby for a period of seven weeks, the start of his season being judged to be 4 August 2007.^[18] He lodged an appeal against the ban^[19] but was unsuccessful.^[20]

After remaining trouble-free for over two years, he was cited for allegedly striking Neil de Kock in Bath Rugby's home Guinness Premiership 11–12 defeat to Saracens on 31 October 2009.^[21] He pleaded guilty to the charge and received a two-week suspension.^[22][23] On 23 January 2010, Grewcock received his third red card in Bath Rugby's colours when he was dismissed for stamping on the forearm of Ulster's Stephen Ferris in the club's 10–28 home Heineken Cup defeat;^[24] the dismissal would see him receive a seven-week suspension.^[25][26]

Honours

Grewcock was awarded an MBE in the Queen's 2003 New Year's Honours list, along with other players from Bath – Iain Balshaw, Mike Catt and Mike Tindall.

Personal life

He is a supporter of Coventry City FC. He is also a black belt in karate

References

External links

• Bath profile
• England profile
• Scrum.com player statistics
• Career Stats@Statbunker