| Birth name | Jonathan Edward Brooks Callard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | (1966-01-01)1 January 1966 (age 59) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Leicester,Leicestershire,England,UK | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 12 st 7 lb (79 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Bassaleg Comprehensive School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Jonathan Edward Brooks Callard (born 1 January 1966, inLeicester) is a coach at theRugby Football Union's National Academy. He formerly playedrugby union atfullback forBath andEngland. He is the brother of ex-Newport RFC player Nigel Callard.
Callard taught physical education classes and sports classes atDownside School (Somerset) in the early to mid-1990s. He also taught Biology to younger students.
Callard joinedBath fromNewport in 1989. In November 1993 he made his international debut for England against theAll Blacks, which saw England cause an upset, winning 15–9. Callard enjoyed a fine debut, scoring 12 points from four successful penalties. In February 1994, on his second appearance for England, Callard was again England's hero in the1994 Five Nations Championship match between Scotland and England at the newly rebuilt Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh.
He kicked all of England's points from five penalties, in a scrappy and closely fought match, as England narrowly beat Scotland 15–14. Controversially, the winning penalty came deep into stoppage time at the end of the match with the score at 12–14, when the referee erroneously gave a penalty against Scotland in the final climactic tussle for possession. Video replays later confirmed that the ball was handled on the ground in a ruck byRob Andrew, and the referee, believing it had been handled illegally by Scottish playerIan Jardine, awarded England a penalty. England's white jersey that season had 'blue' cuffs that matched the Scotland jersey, which could be easily mistaken in a mass crowd of bodies. Callard held his nerve against a cacophony of booing and jeering from the home fans and successfully kicked the resultant penalty, from nearly 50 yards out. As the kick went between the posts, the referee blew the final whistle, and Callard celebrated wildly with his relieved England teammates.
The adulation he received in the wake of such a dramatic victory was fleeting however, as despite his match winning performance against Scotland, Callard, along with several of his teammates were criticised after England's next match, a fortnight later, against Ireland at Twickenham. He missed four penalty attempts, and failed to prevent an Irish try bySimon Geoghegan. Although he managed to kick four successful penalties, England still lost the match 13–12. The defeat ended England's chances of a Grand Slam and reduced their chances of winning the Championship. Several England players were consequently dropped from the starting XV, for the remainder of the Five Nations campaign, including Callard. England's form improved, as they beat both France and Wales, though lost out on the Five Nations Championship on points difference to Wales.
Despite continuing to be selected for future England squads, including for their1994 Summer Tour of South Africa, he fell behind, initiallyPaul Hull, and laterMike Catt,Tim Stimpson andMatt Perry as England's first choice Full Back. The intense competition for places in the England side over the next few years meant that Callard would only gain a total of five caps for England, although he did score an impressive total of 69 points in that time. He played in one solitary match in the1995 Rugby World Cup against Western Samoa, scoring 21 points from the boot, in a 44–22 win that helped England progress to the Quarter Finals. Callard won his last cap for England in November 1995, in a 24–14 defeat to South Africa.
At club level withBath he was part of a very successful side that won five English Courage League / Premiership titles, as well as five Pilkington / Premiership Rugby Cup titles from his debut in 1989 to 1996. His crowning achievement came late in his career when he scored all 19 of Bath's points in their1998 Heineken Cup final victory overBrive.[1] In August 1998 Callard was appointed assistant coach toAndy Robinson at Bath, before being made Head Coach in 2000. In 2002 he became assistant coach toPhil Davies atLeeds Tykes and later that year was also appointed as head coach of the England U21s. During his time at Leeds he coached them to victory the2004–05 Powergen Cup, in the final of which they defeated his old side Bath.[2] He joined theRugby Football Union's National Academy in summer 2005.
Callard was appointed kicking coach to the senior England rugby team for theRugby World Cup 2007.
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