Mike Harrison (rugby union)

Position(s)	Wing
Amateur team(s)
National team(s)

Mike Harrison
Birth name	Michael Edward Harrison
Date of birth	9 April 1956
Place of birth	Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
School	QEGS, Wakefield
Occupation(s)	Banking
Rugby union career
Position(s)	Wing
Amateur team(s)
National team(s)

Mike Harrison (born Michael Edward Harrison, 9 April 1956 in Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire) is a former first-class rugby union footballer, playing on the wing for Wakefield and England.[1]

He was educated at QEGS Wakefield and played for Yorkshire schools at under 16 and 19 levels and North East Schools against Australian schools.

He also won a schools athletics vest for Yorkshire as a sprinter and triple jumper and competed in the national schools championships.

He was involved in a serious car accident in 1975 and eye injuries prevented him playing rugby for more than two years.[2]

In 1978 he joined Wakefield RFC as a scrum half in the third team before moving to centre and finally right wing for the first team where he played in over 300 games.

He has played 53 times for Yorkshire between 1981[3] and 1996. He also represented the North of England against Fiji (1982) and Australia (1984).

Harrison made his England debut during the 1985 tour to New Zealand at the relatively advanced age of 29. England lost both tests, but Harrison scored a breakaway try in each to earn himself the nickname "Burglar Bill". Subsequently a local brewery named a drink "Burglar Bill" after him.[4]

By 1987, Harrison had become a regular fixture in the side, playing in 14 of the next 15 England matches, including all four games of the 1987 Five Nations, one of which was as captain. His appointment came about when current skipper and scrum-half Richard Hill was suspended for allegedly inciting a violent clash with Wales. Mike's first game in charge resulted in victory over Scotland and he marked the occasion with a try.

He kept the captaincy for the inaugural World Cup in New Zealand in 1987 where he led by example and enjoyed good try-scoring form. In the opening match against Australia, Harrison scored another breakaway try to give his side a surprise lead. England remained in contention at 6–6 but could not respond to losing full-back Marcus Rose to concussion and a highly controversial try scored by David Campese. England lost 19–6, but came back to crush Japan, Harrison himself grabbing a hat-trick in thirteen minutes as England racked up ten tries. He scored his fifth try of the tournament against the USA, but England lost to Wales in the quarter-finals, thought by some to have been the worst match of the tournament.

Harrison played the first two games of the 1988 Five Nations but was then dropped and never again called upon to represent his country.[5]

Mike Harrison currently works in banking and occasionally works as an expert summariser on the radio. Harrison is married to Marion with three children; Fiona, Anne and Simon.

Mike Harrison's International Record

1985 v New Zealand (Christchurch) L 18–13

1985 v New Zealand (Wellington) L 42–15
1986 v Scotland (Murrayfield) L 33–6 (FN)
1986 v Ireland (Twickenham) W 25–20 (FN)
1986 v France (Paris) L 29–10 (FN)
1987 v Ireland (Dublin) L 17–0 (FN)
1987 v France (Twickenham) L 19–15 (FN)
1987 v Wales (Cardiff) L 19–12 (FN)
1987 v Scotland (Twickenham) W 21–12 (FN) (Captain)
1987 v Australia (Sydney) L 19–6 (W. Cup) (Captain)
1987 v Japan (Sydney) W 60–7 (W. Cup) (Captain)
1987 v USA (Sydney) W 34–6 (W. Cup) (Captain)
1987 v Wales (Brisbane) L 16–3 (W. Cup) (Captain)
1988 v France](Paris) L 10–9 (FN) (Captain)
1988 v Wales (Twickenham) L 11–3 (FN) (Captain)

Career Record: P15, W4, L11 Test Points: 32 Tries: 8

References

http://www.scrum.com/england/rugby/player/9870.html
Bradford Star 9 May 1985
Barnsley Chronicle 6 November 1981
- Wakefield Rugby Football Club—1901–2001 A Centenary History. Written and compiled by David Ingall in 2001
http://www.sporting-heroes.net/rugby-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=3799

Sources

Wakefield Rugby Football Club—1901–2001 A Centenary History. Written and compiled by David Ingall in 2001
England v Ireland official match programme 1 March 1986
Sporting Heroes.net
Mike Harrison at ESPNscrum

Sporting positions
Preceded by Richard Hill	English National Rugby Union Captain Apr 1987 – Feb 1988	Succeeded by Nigel Melville

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] ttp://www.scrum.com/england/rugby/player/9870.html

[2] Bradford Star 9 May 1985

[3] Barnsley Chronicle 6 November 1981

[4] Wakefield Rugby Football Club—1901–2001 A Centenary History. Written and compiled by David Ingall in 2001

[5] Wakefield Rugby Football Club—1901–2001 A Centenary History. Written and compiled by David Ingall in 2001

[5] ttp://www.sporting-heroes.net/rugby-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=3799

England squad – 1987 Rugby World Cup
Forwards	Bainbridge Chilcott Dawe Dooley D. Egerton Hall Moore Pearce Probyn Redman Rees Rendall Richards Winterbottom
Backs	Andrew Bailey Clough Davies Harding Harrison (c) Hill Rose Salmon Simms R. Underwood Webb Williams
Head coach: Green

English national rugby union team captains
To 1900	1871–1873: Frederick Stokes 1874: Alfred St. George Hamersley 1875: Henry Arnold Lawrence 1875–1876: Francis Luscombe 1877–Mar 1878: Edward Kewley Mar 1878: Murray Wyatt Marshall 1879: Frank Reginald Adams 1880–1881: Lennard Stokes Feb 1882: Charles Gurdon Mar 1882: A. N. Hornby Dec 1882–1885: Edward Temple Gurdon Jan–Feb 1886: Charles John Bruce Marriott Mar 1886: Edward Temple Gurdon 1887: Alan Rotherham 1889: Fred Bonsor Feb 1890: Andrew Stoddart Mar 1890: John Lawrence Hickson Mar 1890: Andrew Stoddart 1891–Jan 1892: Frederic Alderson Feb 1892: Sammy Woods Mar 1892: Frederic Alderson Jan 1893: Andrew Stoddart Feb 1893: Sammy Woods Mar 1893: Andrew Stoddart Jan–Feb 1894: Richard Lockwood Mar 1894: Ernest Taylor 1895: Sammy Woods 1896: Ernest Taylor Mar 1896: Frank Mitchell 1897: Ernest Taylor 1898: J. F. Byrne 1899: Arthur Rotherham
To the First World War	Jan 1900: Richard Cattell 1900: John Daniell Jan 1901: Jack Taylor Feb–Mar 1901: William Bunting Jan 1902: Harry Alexander Feb–Mar 1902: John Daniell Jan–Feb 1903: Bernard Oughtred Mar 1903: Toggie Kendall Jan 1904: Frank Moxon Stout Feb–Mar 1904: John Daniell Jan–Mar 1905: Frank Moxon Stout Dec 1905 - Dec 1906: Vincent Cartwright Jan 1907: Basil Alexander Hill Feb 1907: John Green Mar 1907: Ernest Roberts Jan 1908: Thomas Kelly Jan 1908: John Birkett Feb 1908: Curly Hammond Mar 1908: Lancelot Slocock Jan 1909: George Lyon Jan–Mar 1909: Robert Dibble Jan–Feb 1910: Adrian Stoop Mar 1910: Edgar Mobbs Mar 1910-Feb 1911: John Birkett Mar 1911: Anthony Henniker-Gotley Jan–Mar 1912: Robert Dibble Apr 1912–Mar 1913: Norman Wodehouse 1914: Ronald Poulton
To the Second World War	1920: J. E. Greenwood 1921: Dave Davies Jan 1922: Bruno Brown Feb 1922–1923: Dave Davies 1924–1926: Wavell Wakefield 1927: Leonard Corbett 1928–Feb 1929: Ronald Cove-Smith Mar 1929–Feb 1930: Joe Periton Feb 1930–Jan 1931: Sam Tucker Feb 1931: Peter Howard Mar 1931–Jan 1933: Carl Aarvold Feb–Mar 1933: Tony Novis 1934: Bernard Gadney Jan–Feb 1935: Douglas Kendrew Mar 1935–Mar 1936: Bernard Gadney 1937: Tuppy Owen-Smith Jan–Feb 1938: Peter Cranmer Mar 1938–Mar 1939: Henry Toft
To the Professional Era	Jan–Feb 1947: Joe Mycock Mar–Apr 1947: Jack Heaton Jan 1948: Edward Scott Jan 1948: Tommy Kemp Feb–Mar 1948: Edward Scott Mar 1948: Bob Weighill Jan–Feb 1949: Nim Hall Feb 1949-Mar 1950: Ivor Preece Jan 1951: Vic Roberts Feb–Mar 1951: John Kendall-Carpenter Jan 1952-Mar 1953: Nim Hall 1954: Bob Stirling Jan–Feb 1955: Nim Hall Feb–Mar 1955: Peter Dalton Young Jan 1956–Mar 1958: Eric Evans 1959: Jeffrey Butterfield 1960–1962: Dickie Jeeps Jan–Mar 1963: Richard Sharp May–Jun 1963: Mike Weston Jan–Feb 1964: John Willcox Feb–Mar 1964: Ron Jacobs 1965: David Perry 1966: Budge Rogers Jan 1967: Richard Sharp Feb–Nov 1967: Philip Judd Jan–Feb 1968: Colin McFadyean Feb–Mar 1968: Mike Weston Feb 1969: Dick Greenwood Feb–Apr 1969: Budge Rogers Dec 1969-Mar 1970: Bob Hiller Apr 1970: Bob Taylor Jan 1971: Tony Bucknall Feb 1971: John Spencer Feb 1971: Bob Hiller Mar–Apr 1971: John Spencer Jan–Feb 1972: Bob Hiller Feb–Mar 1972: Peter Dixon Jun 1972–Mar 1974: John Pullin Jan–Feb 1975: Fran Cotton Mar–May 1975: Tony Neary May 1975: John Pullin Jan–Mar 1976: Tony Neary 1977: Roger Uttley 1978: Bill Beaumont Feb 1979: Roger Uttley Feb 1979–Jan 1982: Bill Beaumont Feb 1982–Feb 1983: Steve Smith Mar 1983: John Scott Nov 1983–Mar 1984: Peter Wheeler Jun 1984: John Scott Nov 1984: Nigel Melville 1985: Paul Dodge 1986: Nigel Melville Feb–Mar 1987: Richard Hill Apr 1987–Feb 1988: Mike Harrison Mar 1988: Nigel Melville Apr–Jun 1988: John Orwin Jun 1988: Richard Harding Nov 1988-Mar 1989: Will Carling May 1989: Rob Andrew Nov 1989–May 1995: Will Carling May 1995: Rob Andrew Jun 1995: Will Carling
To the Present Day	Nov 1995-Mar 1996: Will Carling Nov 1996: Phil de Glanville Dec 1996: Jason Leonard Feb–Jul 1997: Phil de Glanville Nov 1997–Apr 1998: Lawrence Dallaglio Jun 1998: Tony Diprose Jun–Jul 1998: Matt Dawson Nov 1998: Martin Johnson Nov 1998–Apr 1999: Lawrence Dallaglio Jun–Oct 1999: Martin Johnson Feb–Apr 2000: Matt Dawson Jun 2000–Apr 2001: Martin Johnson Jun 2001: Kyran Bracken Oct 2001: Matt Dawson Nov 2001: Neil Back Nov 2001–Mar 2002: Martin Johnson Mar–Apr 2002: Neil Back Jun 2002: Phil Vickery Nov 2002–Feb 2003: Martin Johnson Mar 2003: Jonny Wilkinson Mar–Jun 2003: Martin Johnson Aug 2003: Jason Leonard Aug 2003: Dorian West Sep–Oct 2003: Martin Johnson Nov 2003: Phil Vickery Nov 2003: Martin Johnson Feb–Jun 2004: Lawrence Dallaglio Nov 2004-Feb 2005: Jason Robinson Mar 2005-Mar 2006: Martin Corry Jun 2006: Pat Sanderson Nov 2006: Martin Corry Feb 2007: Phil Vickery Mar 2007: Mike Catt May 2007: Jason Robinson Jun 2007: Jonny Wilkinson Aug 2007: Phil Vickery Aug 2007: Mike Catt Aug–Sep 2007: Phil Vickery Sep 2007: Martin Corry Oct 2007–Feb 2008: Phil Vickery Feb 2008: Steve Borthwick Feb-Mar 2008: Phil Vickery Jun 2008–Mar 2010: Steve Borthwick Mar 2010–Nov 2010: Lewis Moody Nov 2010: Nick Easter Nov 2010: Lewis Moody Feb 2011: Mike Tindall Aug 2011: Lewis Moody Aug 2011–Sep 2011: Mike Tindall Sep 2011: Lewis Moody^[n1] Sep 2011: Simon Shaw^[n1] Oct 2011: Lewis Moody Feb–Jun 2012: Chris Robshaw Jun 2012: Dylan Hartley Nov 2012–Mar 2013: Chris Robshaw Jun 2013: Tom Wood Nov 2013–Oct 2015: Chris Robshaw Feb 2016–Mar 2018 : Dylan Hartley Mar 2018: Owen Farrell Mar 2018: Dylan Hartley Jun 2018: Owen Farrell
^[n1] Lewis Moody was substituted in the England vs Georgia match on 18 September 2011, and Simon Shaw was confirmed as captain for the remainder of the match.