Jump to content

Ugo Monye

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ugo Monye
Ugo Monye in January 2013
Birth nameUgochukwu Chiedozie Monye
Date of birth(1983-04-13)13 April 1983(age 41)
Place of birthIslington,London, England
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight92 kg (14 st 7 lb)[1]
SchoolLord Wandsworth College
Rugby union career
Position(s) Wing/Centre/Fullback
Youth career
Harlequins
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2002–2015 Harlequins 241 (435)
Correct as of 7 March 2015
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2008–2012
2009
2006–2015		 England
British & Irish Lions
England Saxons		 14
2
 (10)
(5)
Correct as of 10 November 2012
National sevens team
Years Team Comps
2002–2005 England

Ugochukwu Chiedozie Monye(born 13 April 1983)[citation needed]is an Englishsports punditand formerrugby unionplayer,[2]Monye played 14 times forEngland,241 times for his only clubHarlequins[3]and played twice for theBritish & Irish Lionson their2009 tour to South Africa.Monye won both thesecond divisionand then thePremiership titlewith Harlequins, as well as winning theEuropean Rugby Challenge Cup.[citation needed]

Career[edit]

Youth career[edit]

As an 18 year old Monye competed at theEnglish Schools' Athletics Championshipsin the100 metres,finishing 5th in his heat, in a time of 11.10 seconds.[4]He is friends with OlympiansMark Lewis-FrancisandTyrone Edgarwho also competed in the English Schools' Championship.[citation needed]

Monye played for Hampshire RFC U17s and U20s.

Breakthrough and sevens[edit]

Harlequinsoffered him a professional contract and within 12 months he was a member of the England RFU Sevens team that won the Hong Kong Sevens. Monye was a key member of the Sevens squad throughout the 2002–03 and 2003–04 IRB World Sevens Series, and was part of the team that competed in the2005 Rugby World Cup Sevensin Hong Kong. He was also part of the England RFU Saxons sides that won the Churchill Cup in 2005 and 2008. He first played for Harlequins in a friendly againstGlasgow WarriorsRFC in August 2002, beginning the following season with five tries in two matches, including a hat trick against Rotherham Titans at Millmoor.

Monye scored five tries againstExeter Chiefsin Harlequins' 70–5 victory at Twickenham Stoop as the side returned to the Guinness Premiership after a season in National One during which Monye scored 16 tries. Before the 2009–10 season, he had run in 47 tries in 105 games for the club.

International debut[edit]

Monye made his England debut in England's 39–13 victory over the Pacific Islanders at Twickenham in 2008 and started the rest of the autumn internationals against Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

Monye scored his first try for England against Scotland atTwickenhamin the Six Nations on 21 March 2009.

Selected for the 2009 Lions' tour of South Africa Monye made the XV for the first Test in Durban. In the first half he was prevented from scoring as he dived over the try line when Jean de Villiers got his hand underneath the ball to prevent a try. In the second half, Monye was through to score but was tackled by Morne Steyn and lost control of the ball.

The Lions lost the Test and Monye lost his place, being replaced by Luke Fitzgerald. The Lions lost the second Test and Monye was recalled, redeeming himself with a 70-metre intercepted try although the Lions lost the series 2–1. He was the highest Lions try scorer of the tour with five tries.

Club success[edit]

In September 2010, Ugo suffered a career-threatening injury and after surgery he was sidelined for 12 weeks. This ruled him out of Martin Johnson's England Squad for the Autumn Test Series and consequently the2011 Six Nationstournament. He returned to play for Harlequins who he helped to win the Amlin Challenge Cup, before being named in the England training squad for the2011 Rugby World Cupat the end of the season.

Monye started for Harlequins in their2011–12 Premiershipfinal victory overLeicester Tigers.[5]

On 24 March 2015, Monye announced he was retiring at the end of theseason.[6]

Chair of independent advisory group on diversity[edit]

In April 2021, Monye was appointed chair of theRugby Football Union's independent advisory group on diversity.[7]

In June 2022, during an interview withThe Telegraph,Monye argued that rugby union needed to tackle its "heavy drinking" and "laddish" culture in order to become fully inclusive.[8]

Media work[edit]

Monye presents the Rugby Union Weekly podcast for the BBC[3]with journalist Chris Jones and England scrum halfDanny Care.He also presents on BT Sport. In July 2021, it was announced that Monye andSam Quekwould be the new team captains on BBC'sQuestion of Sportquiz show.[9]

From September 2021 Monye was a contestant on thenineteenth seriesofStrictly Come Dancing,paired with professional dancerOti Mabuse.[10]The couple finished in 11th place.[11]On 21 October Monye announced that he and his wife had split.[12]

Personal life[edit]

Monye's father died shortly before his appearance on BBC'sStrictly Come Dancing.[13][14]

He is a committedChristian.[15]He shares about his faith on episode 14 of theAlpha Coursefilm series.[16]

References[edit]

  1. ^"Harlequins 1st XV".web page.Harlequins. 2011.Retrieved13 June2011.
  2. ^"Ugo Monye".The Guardian.Retrieved2 March2022.
  3. ^ab"BBC One - Strictly Come Dancing - Ugo Monye".BBC.Retrieved2 March2022.
  4. ^"Ugo Monye 100m personal best English Schools Championships".web page.ESAA. 2001.Retrieved6 July2001.
  5. ^"Harlequins 30–23 Leicester".BBC Sport. 26 May 2012.Retrieved2 March2016.
  6. ^"Ugo Monye: Harlequins winger to retire at end of season".BBC Sport.24 March 2015.
  7. ^"'I want everyone to feel rugby is for them'".BBC Sport.Retrieved16 June2022.
  8. ^"Monye says rugby must tackle 'drinking culture'".BBC Sport.Retrieved16 June2022.
  9. ^"Paddy McGuinness replaces Sue Barker as A Question of Sport host".BBC News.8 July 2021.Retrieved8 July2021.
  10. ^"BBC One - Strictly Come Dancing - Ugo Monye".BBC.
  11. ^"The latest celebrity to leave Strictly has been named".The Independent.24 October 2021.
  12. ^Bolton, Josh (21 October 2021)."Strictly's Ugo Monye's split from wife of 5 years and 'curse' that was to blame".MyLondon.
  13. ^"Strictly star Ugo Monye dedicates first dance to late dad".HELLO!.25 September 2021.
  14. ^"Ugo Monye's Strictly Come Dancing tribute on day of father's funeral".
  15. ^Harrison, Maxine (3 September 2021)."Everything you need to know about A Question of Sport's Ugo Monye".BristolLive.Retrieved6 January2023.
  16. ^Digital, Alpha (29 September 2016),Alpha Film Series | Episode 14 Why and how should I tell others?,retrieved29 November2023

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ugo_Monye&oldid=1219873412"