Tony Underwood
England
player portrait
Full name Tony Underwood
Born February 17, 1969, Ipoh
Current age 55 years 31 days
Major teams Barbarians, British and Irish Lions, England B, Newcastle Falcons, England
Position Wing
Height 5 ft 9 in
Weight 189 lb

Test career
Span Mat Start Sub Pts Tries Conv Pens Drop Won Lost Draw %
All Tests 1992-1998 28 28 0 65 13 0 0 0 21 7 0 75
England 1992-1998 27 27 0 65 13 0 0 0 21 6 0 77.77
British and Irish Lions 1997-1997 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Five/Six Nations 1993-1997 13 13 0 35 7 0 0 0 10 3 0 76.92
IRB Rugby World Cup 1995-1995 4 4 0 10 2 0 0 0 3 1 0 75

Career statistics
Test debut England v Canada at Wembley, Oct 17, 1992 match details
Last Test England v South Africa at Twickenham, Dec 5, 1998 match details
Test Statsguru Main menu | Career summary | Match list | Most points | Most tries | Tournament list

English Premiership
Team Span Mat Start Sub Pts Tries Conv Pens Drop Won Lost Draw %
All matches 1997-1999 29 26 3 80 16 0 0 0 17 12 0 58.62
Newcastle Falcons 1997-1999 29 26 3 80 16 0 0 0 17 12 0 58.62
Profile

Tony Underwood is a Malaysian-born wing who played alongside his brother, Rory, in the England Grand Slam winning side in 1995. He and Rory played together at Leicester and both were gifted with pace as they played on opposite flanks terrorising opposition defences.

Tony followed his older brother onto the international stage and made his Test debut in 1992 in a 26-13 win over Canada at Wembley. A month later he played alongside his brother as the Underwoods became the first siblings to be in the same XV for England since the 1930s. He marked the occasion with a try on his first appearance at Twickenham for his country in a 33-16 win over South Africa, after trailing 16-11 at half time.

In 1995 he won the Grand Slam after a victory against Scotland at Twickenham having scored three tries in the tournament and two in one game in a fantastic 31-10 victory against the French.

Tony then endured a bittersweet World Cup in South Africa as England went out in the semi-finals. In the quarter-final he scored a fantastic try against the Australians running from his own half in an epic World Cup match.

A week later in the semi-final against the All Blacks he was one of many England players who failed to stop the rampaging Jonah Lomu before the New Zealand wing charged though Mike Catt to score an iconic try. It was one of four tries Lomu scored that day as New Zealand knocked England out in Cape Town. Tony, his brother Rory and their Mother would all go on to feature in a humorous advert for Pizza Hut alongside Lomu recreating moments from the semi-final.

He left Leicester to join Newcastle after the World Cup and earned a call-up to the British & Irish Lions tour two years later making his Lions Test debut playing in the final Test as they won the series 2-1. It meant both he and his brother have seven Lions' Test caps between them after Rory had played in the previous two series and all the Test matches against Australia and New Zealand.

Once Clive Woodward took over the reigns as England Head Coach Underwood was rarely selected and the wing brought the curtain down on his international career in the autumn of 1998 in a 13-7 victory over South Africa at Twickenham.

Just as he had done in his playing career, Tony followed in his brother's footsteps in retirement and became a professional airline pilot, flying 737s for EasyJet from Geneva.

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Latest Photos
Mar 19, 1995
Rory and Tony Underwood show off the Calcutta Cup and the Five Nations
Rory and Tony Underwood show off the Calcutta Cup and the Five Nations
©  Getty Images
May 5, 1993
The Underwoods and the Hastings line up
The Underwoods and the Hastings line up
©  PA Photos
Jan 1, 1990
England's Rory Underwood (left) and Tony pose before a match against the Barbarians
England's Rory Underwood (left) and Tony pose before a match against the Barbarians
©  Getty Images

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