| Birth name | Harry Alistair Ellis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | (1982-05-17)17 May 1982 (age 42) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Wigston,Leicestershire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 13 st 8 lb (100 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Leicester Grammar School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | De Montfort University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Harry Alistair Ellis (born 17 May 1982) is an English formerrugby union footballer who playedscrum half forLeicester Tigers,England and theBritish & Irish Lions.
In July 2010, Ellis announced his retirement from the game as a result of a persistent knee injury.[1] He now works at his former school,Leicester Grammar School, teachingPE toA-Level andGCSE students, and contributing to the coaching of its 1st XV and other sporting teams.
Ellis first playedrugby union as a 6-year-old with the South Leicester club. He studied at Bushloe High School and laterLeicester Grammar School, where he represented Leicester Schools and the Midlands at every age level. He also became a teacher for a short period of time.
He spent a year with the Wigston club South Leicester RUFC before he finally joined theLeicester Tigers Academy where he combined playing with further education atDe Montfort University. He worked his way through the Tigers lower teams and continued his representative career, playing for both the England U19 and U21 sides. He has also featured in theEngland Sevens squad along with his teammateLouis Deacon.
In August 2001, he made his first teamTigers debut in the Orange Cup game inToulouse. In Leicester's 2002Heineken Cup quarter final, Ellis scored the only try of the game, breaking away from a ruck and sliding over on the wet ground. Ellis went on to score a superb individual try that helped defeatLlanelli in theHeineken Cup semi-final at Nottingham.[2] In thefinal itself Ellis came on as a replacement as Leicester emerged victorious.[3] He was named Tigers' Players Young Player of the Year for the 2001–2 season.
He finally established himself as a regular in theNo. 9 spot during the 2003–04 season, making 19 appearances and helping Tigers come back from a poor start and a turbulent mid-season to reach the Zurich Wild Card final.
Ellis suffered knee ligament damage against Bristol on 5 May 2007 in the Guinness Premiership semi-final play-off. He played an influential role in the Tigers' domestic double success, but the injury meant him missing out on the Premiership and Heineken Cup finals.
TheHeineken Cup semi-final againstCardiff Blues resulted in a historic sudden death kicking competition.[4] The shoot-out ended before Ellis's turn came up – though it was a close run thing, as either he orTom Croft were to followJordan Crane.[5] Although the Tigers fell at the final hurdle of the Heineken Cup, they won the2008–09 Guinness Premiership final, which Ellis did not feature in but was an unused replacement.[6]
Ellis started the 2009/10 season as first-choice scrum-half for Leicester, but suffered an injury in training, which left him out of the game for a significant part of the season. He returned to play in the Guinness A league, and helped the Tigers A team to victory.[7]
His last game for the senior side came againstNorthampton Saints in the LV= Cup.[8]
Ellis played for the England A, Under 16 Group and Under 18 Group schools sides. In fact, he played for the England Under 18 side when he was only 16.
Ellis was selected on England's 2004 summer tour as third choicescrum half behindMatt Dawson andAndy Gomarsall and did not play, however he made hisEngland debut from the bench in their 32–16 win over theSpringboks in autumn 2004. He also made an appearance as a replacement in the game againstAustralia.
He subsequently became a regular fixture in theEngland side, rotating withMatt Dawson during the 2005Six Nations. Ellis scored his debut try for England in the 2005 Calcutta Cup win over Scotland. He lost out to Matt Dawson for the opening two Autumn tests in 2005 but took his chance superbly againstSamoa, scoring an outstanding solo try in what was comfortably his best test match performance. This helped secured him the no 9 shirt for four games of the2006 6 Nations.
He was left out of the Summer development tour to Australia, but was chosen again for the Elite Player England Squad for the 2006/2007 season. Ellis was not included in the 2006 Autumn internationals that saw England head coachAndy Robinson lose his job, but whenBrian Ashton was appointed as his successor Ellis was named in the team to start England's 2007 Six Nations opener against Scotland. In this game Ellis came of age and it was arguably one of his best performances in an England shirt. He consistently retained his place throughout the2007 Six Nations, starting in every game and scoring a try in the loss to Wales.
Ellis was ruled out of the2007 Rugby World Cup due to the knee injury suffered in the Premiership.
He had a very successful2009 Six Nations tournament, starting for England as a result of the ankle injury toDanny Care,[9] and went on to score two tries in a man-of-the-match performance againstItaly, where his opposite number was, unusually,Mauro Bergamasco.[10] He started all subsequent Six Nations matches, where he played scrum-half to former teammateAndy Goode, and then current teammateToby Flood's fly-half. His last game for England came in the Calcutta Cup win overScotland.[11]
He was picked for the 2009British & Irish Lions tour, where he played as a substitute in the final Test win against the Springboks in Ellis Park.[12]
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