 Lawes representingNorthampton Saints during theAviva Premiership | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Courtney Linford Lawes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | (1989-02-23)23 February 1989 (age 36) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Hackney, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 119 kg (262 lb; 18 st 10 lb)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Kingsthorpe College Northampton School for Boys Moulton College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Courtney Linford Lawes (born 23 February 1989) is an English professionalrugby union player who plays as aflanker forPro D2 clubBrive and formerly for theEngland national team.[3][4]
Lawes was born 23 February 1989 inHackney to aJamaican father and English mother and moved at the age of four to the town ofNorthampton where his mother was from.[5][6]
Lawes attendedNorthampton School for Boys and is a product of Northampton Old Scouts, the same club that produced his former teammateRob Milligan as well asBen Cohen andSteve Thompson, amongst others.[5]
In October 2007 Lawes made his Saints first team debut againstEsher inNational One in the2007–08 season which ended in promotion.[7][8] The following season he began to establish a reputation as a tackler, notably in the final of the2009 European Challenge Cup againstBourgoin where he dislocated the shoulder ofMorgan Parra[5][9] and in the2015 Six Nations Championship match against France with a tackle onJules Plisson.[10]
In March 2010 Lawes was part of the side that beatGloucester to win theAnglo-Welsh Cup[11] and the following season saw him start in the2011 Heineken Cup Final at theMillennium Stadium as Northampton finished runners up toLeinster.[12]
In May 2013 Northampton were beaten byLeicester Tigers in the Premiership final[13] however the following season saw Lawes play an integral part in Saints securing both the Premiership andEuropean Rugby Challenge Cup titles in 2014. They beatBath atCardiff Arms Park to win the Challenge Cup[14] and the following weekend defeatedSaracens to win their first ever Premiership title.[15]
Lawes was shortlisted for the Saints Supporters' Player of the Season in 2016/17 but lost out to teammate,Louis Picamoles.[16]
After 17 years at Northampton Saints, Lawes announced on the 23rd of February 2024 that he would be leaving the club at the end of the 23/24 season to join French clubBrive.[17]
Courtney Lawes was inducted into the Rugby Players' Association Hall of Fame on the 29th April 2024.[18] On the 23rd May 2024, Courtney Lawes was named in the English Premiership Team of the Season for 23/24.[19]
In his last game for the club, Courtney Lawes captained Northampton Saints to their second English Premiership title on the 8th June 2024, beating Bath in the final at Twickenham, thus cementing his status as an all-time great for club and country.[20]
Lawes won England representative honours for the U18 side and toured Australia withEngland Under 18s in 2007.[21] He missed out on the2008 U20s Six Nations through injury but featured in the IRB Junior World Championship that year.[22] In the summer of 2009 Lawes started for theEngland Under 20 team that finished runners up toNew Zealand in the final of the2009 IRB Junior World Championship inTokyo.[23][24]
In July 2009, Lawes was selected for theEngland Saxons squad[25] and on 26 October 2009 he received his first call-up by coachMartin Johnson to the senior England squad.[26] He made his England debut on 7 November 2009 in the 18–9 defeat againstAustralia atTwickenham, replacingLouis Deacon for the last twelve minutes of the match.[27][28] He was included in the squad for the2011 Rugby World Cup[29] and started in their quarter-final elimination againstFrance.[30]
After the World Cup new coachStuart Lancaster continued to select Lawes and in December 2012 he featured in a win overNew Zealand.[31] He was selected for the2015 Rugby World Cup and featured in two pool games againstFiji andWales as the hosts failed to make the knockout phase.[32]
Lawes participated in the2016 Six Nations Championship as England achieved their firstGrand Slam in over a decade.[33][34] He came off the bench in all three tests as England completed a serieswhitewash on their2016 tour of Australia[35] and later that year scored his first international try on his fiftieth cap againstSouth Africa.[36][37] The following year saw Lawes start in the last match of the2017 Six Nations Championship which England lost away toIreland ensuring they failed to complete consecutive grand slams and also brought an end to a record equalling eighteen successiveTest victories.[38]
Lawes was included in the squad for the2019 Rugby World Cup.[39] He started all three knockout games againstAustralia in the quarter-final,[40] victory overNew Zealand in the semi-final[41] and defeat toSouth Africa in thefinal as England finished runners up.[42] Lawes was a member of the side that won the2020 Six Nations Championship.[43][44] On 6 November 2021, Lawes captained England for the first time, in a game againstTonga.[6]
Lawes retired from international duty following the 2023 World Cup.[1]
On 19 April 2017, it was announced that Lawes would be heading to New Zealand with theBritish & Irish Lions for their summer tour, with his Saints teammateGeorge North.[45][46] Lawes was handed his first Lions starting place for the Lions' second game of the tour, against theBlues.[47][48] He did not feature in the first test but did come off the bench in the second and third tests as the series finished level.[32][49]
Lawes was also selected by coachWarren Gatland for the2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa.[50] He started all three tests at flanker as the Lions lost the series 2–1.[51][52]
As of 2017, Lawes and his wife Jessica have four children.[53]
| Try | Opposing team | Location | Venue | Competition | Date | Result | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  South Africa | London, England | Twickenham Stadium | 2016 Autumn Internationals | 12 November 2016 | Win | 37 – 21[36] |
| 2 |  Japan | Nice, France | Stade de Nice | 2023 Rugby World Cup | 17 September 2023 | Win | 34 – 12 |
