Will Greenwood

{{Short description|British Lions & England international rugby union player}}

{{Infobox rugby biography

| name = Will Greenwood
MBE

| image = Will Greenwood.jpg

| image_size = 290px

| caption =

| birth_name = William John Heaton Greenwood

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1972|10|20|df=y}}

| birth_place = Blackburn, Lancashire, England

| height = {{height|ft=6|in=4}}

| weight = {{convert|15|st|10|lb|kg|abbr=on}}

| position = Centre

| amatyears1 = 1988–1990

| amatyears2 = 1990–1994

| amatteam1 = Preston Grasshoppers

| amatteam2 = Waterloo R.F.C.

| ru_amupdate = 1988–1990
1990–1994

| repteam1 = England

| repteam2 = British & Irish Lions

| repyears1 = 1997–2004

| repyears2 = 1997, 2001, 2005

| repcaps1 = 55

| repcaps2 = 2

| reppoints1 = 155

| reppoints2 = 0

| ru_ntupdate = 14 September 2006

| years1 = 1994–1996

| years2 = 1996–2000

| years3 = 2000–2006

| clubs1 = Harlequins

| clubs2 = Leicester Tigers

| clubs3 = Harlequins

| apps1 = 25

| apps2 = 151

| apps3 = 82

| points1 = 70

| points2 = 307

| points3 = 135

| ru_clubupdate = 14 September 2006

| ru_currentclub =

| province1 =

| provinceyears1 =

| provinceapps1 =

| provincepoints1 =

| ru_provinceupdate =

| repsevensyears1 =

| ru_sevensnationalcaps =

| ru_sevensnationalpoints =

| ru_sevensupdate =

| coachteams1 =

| coachyears1 =

| ru_coachupdate =

| school = Sedbergh School

| university = Durham University

}}

William John Heaton Greenwood, MBE (born 20 October 1972) is an English former rugby union player who played for Leicester Tigers and Harlequins and was a member of England's 2003 World Cup-winning team and the 1997 British & Irish Lions. He played in the centre, mainly as an inside centre.

He is the son of Dick Greenwood, who was a former England coach.

Early life

Born 20 October 1972 in Blackburn, Lancashire, Greenwood was educated at St Mary's Hall{{cite news|title=Greenwood's secret past|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/1220153.stm|publisher=BBC|date=14 March 2001}} and Sedbergh School.{{cite news|title=Sedbergh School 1st XV see off Millfield to remain unbeaten for the season|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/schoolsports/6866383/Sedbergh-School-1st-XV-see-off-Millfield-to-remain-unbeaten-for-the-season.html|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=22 December 2009}} As a schoolboy, he was also a talented cricketer and played for the Lancashire Schools representative team before ultimately deciding to concentrate on rugby.{{cite news|title=LSCA 90th Anniversary|url=http://www.lancashirecricket.co.uk/index.php/representative/excellence-cricket/3583.html|publisher=Lancashire Cricket Board|date=18 May 2012}} He graduated with a BA in economics from Durham University in 1994.{{cite news|title=Small Talk: Will Greenwood|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/jan/22/small-talk-will-greenwood|work=The Guardian|date=22 January 2010}}{{cite news|title=Purple reign is Greenwood's university wish|url=http://www.journallive.co.uk/newcastle-sports/north-east-rugby/rugby-other/2011/04/26/purple-reign-is-greenwood-s-university-wish-61634-28582531/|publisher=The Journal|date=26 April 2011}} He then worked as a trader at a bank in London.{{cite news|title=The Big Interview: Will Greenwood|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/interviews/the-big-interview-will-greenwood-6701042.html|work=Evening Standard|location=London|date=23 February 2010}}

Career

=Club=

Greenwood played club rugby for Preston Grasshoppers, Waterloo, Harlequins and Leicester Tigers.

He left Harlequins and moved to Leicester Tigers in 1996 because the presence of England centre Will Carling meant he could not get first team rugby.

In 2000 he moved back to Harlequins after succumbing to poor form, not helped by the arrival of Australian Pat Howard that prevented him from getting first team rugby. His match-winning try to defeat Brive, in the European Shield quarterfinal on 27 January 2001, was voted the club's 2000/01 'Try of the Year'. He had already picked up an RFU Cup winner's medal with Leicester but tasted defeat in the final of the same competition with NEC Harlequins, at the hands of Newcastle Falcons in 2001.

Greenwood extended his contract with Harlequins when they were relegated to the National League 1.{{cite news|title=Greenwood and Vos stay with Quins|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/english/4559559.stm|publisher=BBC Sport|date=18 May 2005}} He retired at the end of the 2005/06 season after helping them regain promotion.{{cite news|title=World Cup star Greenwood to quit|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/4773442.stm|publisher=BBC Sport|date=4 March 2006}}

=International=

He was selected for the British & Irish Lions' tour to South Africa still uncapped, and ahead of then England captain Phil de Glanville, in the summer of 1997. During the tour, he was injured on the pitch after a collision and stopped breathing for several minutes, and did not play in any of the test matches.{{cite news|title=Lions 2009: The day when rugby nearly cost Will Greenwood his life|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/britishandirishlionsrugby/5452737/Lions-2009-The-day-when-rugby-nearly-cost-Will-Greenwood-his-life.html|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=5 June 2009}}

He made his England debut in 1997. He became an important part of the England team, establishing a centre partnership with Jeremy Guscott. He later cemented his place in the England team for the Six Nations and World Cup in 2003. He formed a centre partnership with Mike Tindall or Mike Catt and wore the number 13 even if he played inside centre.{{cite news|title=English Rugby's Fifty Cap Club – Will Greenwood profile: England rugby centre|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/sport/england-rugby-fifty-cap-club/8634367/Will-Greenwood-profile-England-rugby-centre.html|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=13 July 2011}} He was involved in all but one of England's games in the World Cup. Although he had rushed home due to his wife's difficult pregnancy, he returned to the side, scoring England's only try against South Africa, when he followed up to touch down after a Lewis Moody charge down. His try against Wales in the quarter-final in Brisbane turned the match for England in a tight game. He finished the tournament as joint top try scorer with five.

He was made vice captain under Lawrence Dallaglio for the 2004 Six Nations tournament. He reached the 50 cap landmark against Ireland and played in all of England's Six Nations matches. He won the last of 55 England caps against Australia in 2004.

In 2005 Greenwood was injured for the Six Nations, but was selected for the British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, his third Lions tour. He replaced Brian O'Driscoll just two minutes into the first test against New Zealand and also played in the third test.

After 55 England caps and 31 tries he announced his retirement at the end of the 2005/6 season{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/4773442.stm|title=World cup star Greenwood to quit|date=4 March 2006|publisher=BBC Sport|access-date=3 March 2010}} England never lost an international match in which Greenwood scored.

= International Tries =

{{Cite web|title=William John Heaton Greenwood|url=http://www.espnscrum.com/england/rugby/player/12703.html|access-date=2022-01-09|publisher=ESPNscrum}}

class="wikitable"

!Try

!Opposing team

!Location

!Venue

!Competition

!Date

!Result

!Score

|{{ru|WAL}}

|London, England

|Twickenham Stadium

|1998 Five Nations Championship

|21 February 1998

|Win

|60–26

|{{ru|NED}}

|Huddersfield, England

|Galpharm Stadium

|1999 Rugby World Cup – European qualification

|14 November 1998

|Win

|110–0

|{{ru|ITA}}

|Huddersfield, England

|Galpharm Stadium

|1999 Rugby World Cup – European qualification

|22 November 1998

|Win

|23–15

|rowspan="2"|{{ru|CAN}}

|rowspan="2"|London, England

|rowspan="2"|Twickenham Stadium

|rowspan="2"|1999 Canada rugby union tour of Great Britain

|rowspan="2"|28 August 1999

|rowspan="2"|Win

|rowspan="2"|36–11

|rowspan="2"|{{ru|TON}}

|rowspan="2"|London, England

|rowspan="2"|Twickenham Stadium

|rowspan="2"|1999 Rugby World Cup

|rowspan="2"|15 October 1999

|rowspan="2"|Win

|rowspan="2"|101–10

|{{ru|RSA}}

|London, England

|Twickenham Stadium

|2000 end-of-year rugby union internationals

|2 December 2000

|Win

|25–17

|rowspan="3"|{{ru|WAL}}

|rowspan="3"|Cardiff, Wales

|rowspan="3"|Millennium Stadium

|rowspan="3"|2001 Six Nations Championship

|rowspan="3"|3 February 2001

|rowspan="3"|Win

|rowspan="3"|15–44

|{{ru|ITA}}

|London, England

|Twickenham Stadium

|2001 Six Nations Championship

|17 February 2001

|Win

|80–23

|{{ru|SCO}}

|London, England

|Twickenham Stadium

|2001 Six Nations Championship

|3 March 2001

|Win

|43–3

|{{ru|FRA}}

|London, England

|Twickenham Stadium

|2001 Six Nations Championship

|7 April 2001

|Win

|48–19

|rowspan="2"|{{ru|IRE}}

|rowspan="2"|London, England

|rowspan="2"|Twickenham Stadium

|rowspan="2"|2002 Six Nations Championship

|rowspan="2"|16 February 2002

|rowspan="2"|Win

|rowspan="2"|45–11

|{{ru|WAL}}

|London, England

|Twickenham Stadium

|2002 Six Nations Championship

|23 March 2002

|Win

|50–10

|rowspan="2"|{{ru|ITA}}

|rowspan="2"|Rome, Italy

|rowspan="2"|Stadio Flaminio

|rowspan="2"|2002 Six Nations Championship

|rowspan="2"|7 April 2002

|rowspan="2"|Win

|rowspan="2"|9–45

|rowspan="2"|{{ru|RSA}}

|rowspan="2"|London, England

|rowspan="2"|Twickenham Stadium

|rowspan="2"|2002 end-of-year rugby union internationals

|rowspan="2"|23 November 2002

|rowspan="2"|Win

|rowspan="2"|53–3

|{{ru|WAL}}

|Cardiff, Wales

|Millennium Stadium

|2003 Six Nations Championship

|22 February 2003

|Win

|9–26

|rowspan="2"|{{ru|IRE}}

|rowspan="2"|Dublin, Ireland

|rowspan="2"|Lansdowne Road

|rowspan="2"|2003 Six Nations Championship

|rowspan="2"|30 March 2003

|rowspan="2"|Win

|rowspan="2"|6–42

|{{ru|AUS}}

|Melbourne, Australia

|Docklands Stadium

|2003 England rugby union tour of the Southern Hemisphere

|21 June 2003

|Win

|14–25

|rowspan="2"|{{ru|GEO|variant=1990}}

|rowspan="2"|Perth, Australia

|rowspan="2"|Subiaco Oval

|rowspan="2"|2003 Rugby World Cup

|rowspan="2"|12 October 2003

|rowspan="2"|Win

|rowspan="2"|84–6

|{{ru|RSA}}

|Perth, Australia

|Subiaco Oval

|2003 Rugby World Cup

|18 October 2003

|Win

|6–25

|{{ru|URU}}

|Brisbane, Australia

|Suncorp Stadium

|2003 Rugby World Cup

|2 November 2003

|Win

|111–13

|{{ru|WAL}}

|Brisbane, Australia

|Suncorp Stadium

|2003 Rugby World Cup

|9 November 2003

|Win

|28–17

|{{ru|CAN}}

|London, England

|Twickenham Stadium

|2004 end-of-year rugby union internationals

|13 November 2004

|Win

|70–0

Post Retirement

Greenwood worked as an analyst for Sky Sports and regularly appears on 'The Rugby Club' and live premiership matches, as well as being (with Scott Quinnell) the co-presenter of the School of Hard Knocks Sky TV series. During the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Greenwood was employed by ITV as an analyst for live matches. He also writes a column on the Daily Telegraph discussing the England rugby team.{{Cite web |title=Will Greenwood |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/w/wf-wj/will-greenwood/ |access-date=2023-01-23 |website=The Telegraph |language=en-GB}} He is a co-founder of a travel and events business, SuperSkills Experiences{{cite web|url=http://www.superskillsexperiences.com|title=Website hosted by Rocket-media.net|archive-date=March 15, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130315014429/http://www.superskillsexperiences.com/}}{{unreliable source?|date=August 2024}}

In 2019, he was on the first panel to determine the World Rugby women's-15s player-of-the-year award with Melodie Robinson, Danielle Waterman, Liza Burgess, Lynne Cantwell, Fiona Coghlan, Gaëlle Mignot, Jillion Potter, Stephen Jones, and Karl Te Nana.{{Cite web|url=https://www.world.rugby/news/407650?lang=en|title=Stars join new-look World Rugby Awards panels|last=worldrugby.org|website=world.rugby|access-date=24 March 2019}}

Since November 2020, Will has been the Chief Customer Officer at Afiniti's London Office{{Cite web|url=https://www.afiniti.com/team/will-greenwood|title=MEET OUR LOCAL LEADERSHIP TEAM|

website=www.afiniti.com|access-date=19 March 2021}}

In 2021, Greenwood and Ben Fennell, former Bartle Bogle Hegarty CEO, released World Class: How to Lead, Learn and Grow like a Champion.{{cite web |last1=Simms |first1=George |last2=Stevens |first2=Harvey |title=In conversation with Will Greenwood and Ben Fennell |url=https://www.palatinate.org.uk/in-conversation-with-will-greenwood-and-ben-fennell/ |website=Palatinate |access-date=21 December 2023 |date=1 December 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Hamilton |first1=Will |title=Let's Get Down to Business: Ben Fennell, The Growth House, Remenham |url=https://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/business/176180/let-s-get-down-to-business-ben-fennell-the-growth-house-remenham.html |website=Henley Standard |access-date=21 December 2023 |language=en |date=14 November 2022}}

Personal life

Greenwood and his wife, Caroline, have three children. They also had a son Freddie who died 45 minutes after his birth in 2002.{{cite news|title=There will always be something missing|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/3307000/There-will-always-be-something-missing.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826161253/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/3307000/There-will-always-be-something-missing.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 August 2014|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=11 May 2004}} Greenwood is a patron of Child Bereavement UK, a charity which supports parents who have lost a child.{{cite web|title=Child Bereavement UK:: Patrons|url=http://www.childbereavementuk.org/about/who-are-we/patrons/|access-date=5 April 2016}}{{cite web|title=Will Greenwood - Personally Speaking Bureau|url=http://www.personallyspeakingbureau.com/speaker/will-greenwood/|access-date=5 April 2016}} Greenwood is also a Patron of [https://www.borne.org.uk/ Borne], a medical research charity looking into the causes of premature birth.{{Cite web|url=https://www.borne.org.uk/about/patrons-ambassadors/|title=Our Patrons and Ambassadors|website=Borne|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-05-22}}{{Citation|last=Borne|title=Will & Caro Greenwood's Story|date=2018-01-10|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQS1JvwCUZU |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/eQS1JvwCUZU |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|access-date=2019-05-22}}{{cbignore}}

In April 2018, he walked to the North Pole in memory of his son Freddie, who was born at 23 weeks, and helped raise over £750,000 for Borne's research.{{Cite web|url=https://www.borne.org.uk/support-us/borne-arctic-challenge/|title=Borne's Arctic Challenge 2018|website=Borne|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-05-22}} Greenwood was awarded a Doctor of Civil Law honoris causa by his alma mater Durham University in January 2006.[http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/ceremonies/congregation/greenwood_will.pdf Ceremonies – William John Heaton Greenwood] In August 2014, Greenwood was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/aug/07/celebrities-open-letter-scotland-independence-full-text |title=Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories |work=The Guardian |date=2014-08-07 |access-date=2014-08-26}}

Away from rugby and cricket, Greenwood has been a supporter of Manchester City F.C. since he was 9 years old.{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/9260915/Will-Greenwood-I-followed-Manchester-City-through-thick-and-thin-in-the-bad-old-days.html |title=Will Greenwood: I followed Manchester City through thick and thin in the bad old days |work=The Telegraph |date=11 May 2012 |access-date=5 April 2016}}{{Cite web |title=Will Greenwood: Manchester City have given me my No 1 sporting moment - ahead of winning Rugby World Cup |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/8512579/Will-Greenwood-Manchester-City-have-given-me-my-No-1-sporting-moment-ahead-of-winning-Rugby-World-Cup.html |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=13 May 2011 |access-date=2014-11-08}}

References

External links

[http://www.willgreenwood.co.uk/ Personal Website]
{{ESPNscrum|12703}}
[http://www.sporting-heroes.net/rugby-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=1273 Sporting heroes]
[http://www.planet-rugby.com/stats/players/player_details.phtml/p_r/ENG?playerCode=EGR20&search_text=Will%20Greenwood&navCode=&tm1Code=%&setCode=archive Planet-rugby bio]
[http://www.premiershiprugby.com/matchcentre/fixtures/squads.php?player=3716&includeref=dynamic Profile] on Aviva Premiership website
{{cite web|title=Profile at Harlequins|url=http://www.quins.co.uk/PlayerDisplay.ink?skip=10&season=2005/2006&Playertype=P|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313114203/http://www.quins.co.uk/PlayerDisplay.ink?skip=10&season=2005%2F2006&Playertype=P|archive-date=13 March 2007|url-status=dead}}
[http://www.leicestertigers.com/31_3615.php?PHPSESSID=9612ffecb41e7e5829375a2501221e2b Profile at Leicester Tigers]