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| Born | Benedict James Kay (1975-12-14)14 December 1975 (age 49) Liverpool, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 120 kg (265 lb; 18 st 13 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | Loughborough University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notable relative(s) | Sir John Kay (father) DameAmanda Yip (sister) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Benedict James KayMBE (born 14 December 1975) is an English retired international rugby union footballer who playedsecond row forward forLeicester Tigers,England and theBritish & Irish Lions.
Kay was born inLiverpool, the only son of Lord Justice of Appeal SirJohn William Kay (1943–2004),[1] His sister, DameAmanda Yip, is also a judge. His father's vocation later earned Ben the nickname "M'lud".[2][3] Kay first started playing rugby forWaterloo minis going on to play for the Waterloo first team.
Kay played for his school (Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby) and has also played forQueensland University. He represented England in the 1996 Students World Cup in South Africa and at U18, U19 and U21 level. He attendedLoughborough University, where he obtained a degree in Sports Science.
Kay joinedLeicester Tigers from Waterloo in 1999 and first played during theWorld Cup, with Tigers' normalSecond rowsMartin Johnson andFritz van Heerden away with England andSouth Africa respectively. With the help of Johnson and van Heerden, he developed his game, becoming a highly rated middleline-out jumper, like van Heerden. He was a member of Tigers'Heineken Cup winning sides in2001[4] and2002[5] as his international career blossomed.
Having made hisEngland A debut againstFrance A in Blagnac in 2000 Kay led England A to a 23–22 win over France A at Redruth in April 2001, and was called up for England's successful tour of North America and Japan that summer. He made hisEngland debut againstCanada on 2 June 2001 displacingDanny Grewcock from the England side.[6]
After another outstanding season he was named as the Tigers Members' Player of the Year 2001/2, and was a nominee for theZurich Premiership Player of the Year. He was in the starting line-up for all theSix Nations games in2002, and scored a try againstIreland.[7] After touring with England toArgentina in the summer of 2002, where he scored his second try,[8] Kay went on to compete in both the Autumn internationals and theSix Nations, before touring to New Zealand and Australia in June 2003.
Kay confirmed his status as a core part of the England squad in theWorld Cup when he played every minute of every England game except the game againstUruguay. His line-out skills came to the fore here, particularly during the games againstSouth Africa, when Kay learned to count in Afrikaans to crack theSpringboks' line-out codes.[9] During the final againstAustralia, Kay famously knocked-on (dropped the ball forwards) in a try-scoring position when a try would have almost certainly meant an England win. England won regardless, partly as a result of Tigers' teammateLewis Moody winning a line-out Kay himself had called.[citation needed]
Sir Clive Woodward selected him for the2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand.[10] Kay came off the bench againstArgentina in an officialTest prior to the tour.[11] Kay started in the first Test of the series.[12]
He was the only player to play every minute of England's 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign culminating in their narrow loss in the Final.[13] He was one of only four players to have started both the2003 and2007 RWC Finals, the other three beingJonny Wilkinson,Jason Robinson andPhil Vickery.
Kay helped Leicester win the Premiership in 2007, starting the final as they defeatedGloucester.[14] He was a used replacement in every game of the2008 Six Nations.[15]
Kay started both the2008–09 Heineken Cup final and theGuinness Premiership win the same season.[16] The Tigers won back-to-back Premiership titles the following season, in the2009–10 Guinness Premiership, by beating Saracens 33–27 at Twickenham,[17] though Kay did not feature in that game. He decided to retire at the end of the2009–10 season after 11 years withLeicester Tigers.[18][19] He has since worked as a commentator for ESPN and BT Sport.
He also served as non-executive director on Leicester Tigers' board of directors between 2014 and 2021.[20]
Kay is a supporter ofLiverpool FC.[21][22]
In 2002, Kay married long-time girlfriend Virginia, a physiotherapist,[23] and they have two children.[24] His long time Leicester Tigers and England teammateMartin Johnson was an usher at his wedding.
Kay paid his respects to his former sports teacher at Merchant Taylors, Ian 'Robbo' Robinson, who died in a white water rafting incident whilst on a rugby tour with the school.[25]