David Strettle

David Strettle

File:David Strettle.jpg
Personal information
Full name	David Strettle
Date of birth	(1983-06-23) 23 June 1983
Place of birth	Lymm, Cheshire, England
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	78 kg (12 st 4 lb)
School	Lymm High School
University	Sheffield Hallam University
Youth clubs
Years Club Lymm Warrington
Senior clubs*
Years Club Apps (points) 2002-2006 2006-2010 2010-2015 2015- Rotherham Titans Harlequins Saracens Clermont Auvergne 43 (135) 81 (90) 127 (205)
Representative teams
2007-2015 England 14 (10)
Sevens National teams
England
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only and correct as of 15 February 2015.

David Strettle, (born 23 July 1983), is an English rugby union player who plays on the wing for Clermont and England.

Early Life

Strettle grew up in Thelwall, Cheshire, attending Lymm High School and playing for Lymm RFC. Strettle then went on to study at Sheffield Hallam University.

Career

In the summer of 2006, Strettle joined the Harlequins from Rotherham, and made his club debut in the pre-season friendly against ASM Clermont on 6 August of that year.

As a teenager, he was a talented footballer, appearing on the books of Liverpool FC, Manchester City and Crewe Alexandra. He was also a keen rugby league fan.

Strettle scored a hat trick on his Rotherham debut against Rugby Lions and made his Premiership debut for the Titans against Bath in October 2003. He was Rotherham's top try-scorer in National One in the 2004–05 season scoring 18 tries in 22 appearances.

Strettle is known as "Ducks" at Harlequins after David Duckham, a player to whom Strettle has drawn comparison, and was touted as a future England winger. He recently scored a hat trick in the game against Newcastle Falcons and was included in the England Saxons squad for the team's games against Italy and Ireland, scoring in both games.

Strettle was also a regular in the England sevens squad throughout the 2005/06 IRB World Seven Series. He won a surprise call up to the England starting XV for its 2007 Six Nations game against Ireland at Croke Park in the place of the injured Jason Robinson, and scored England's only try in the 43–13 defeat. He also started in the win over France and the defeat to Wales.

On 2 May 2007, Strettle was named as the Professional Rugby Player's Association Young Player of the Season. He was also named in the Sky Sports Dream Team for the Guinness Premiership season 2006–07, along with fellow Harlequin and England hopeful Mike Brown.

Also in May 2007, Strettle was named in the England Rugby squad to tour South Africa. Unfortunately, he came down with food poisoning along with other members of the squad, which prevented him from starting in England's 58–10 record defeat to South Africa.

On 16 August 2007, a confusing article appeared on Harlequins official site. It seems to suggest that Strettle had crossed codes and signed for Harlequins Rugby League. The basis of the story was that he is also a registered Harlequins Rugby League club player, as many players in Harlequins Rugby Union side are.

He returned to play for Harlequins after recovering from the injury that put him out of the 2007 Rugby World Cup and was called up to the England squad for the 2008 Six Nations Championship. He started the game against Wales but was withdrawn early on following a metatarsal break, which ruled him out of the rest of the tournament.

It was announced on 25 March 2010 that he will be playing rugby for Saracens from the start of 2010-11 season.

Strettle stayed with Saracens for a further four seasons, until it was announced he would be playing for the French side Clermont Auvergne, beginning from the 2015-16 Top 14 season.

Personal life

In June 2008, while on tour to New Zealand, Strettle was said to have been involved in a "rampant night of passion" with part-time model Sophie Lewis. An RFU investigation found Strettle not guilty of any misconduct but he was warned "to be careful in future not to put himself in any compromising situations which may lead to him bringing the game into disrepute".

Strettle is an aficionado of Football Manager, and sees himself as having the knack for "picking up players on the cheap and turning them into the new Rooney or Henry". This was an idea he floated to the Saracens coaching staff after a serious injury to flyhalf Derick Hougaard and resulted in Venter bringing in Owen Farrell at 10. He recently boasted of his ability to turn West Ham into a top European team within 2 to 3 seasons, while also stating that he was a "world class football manager".

Strettle's England team-mates gave Strettle a new nickname during the 2007 Six Nations Championship. During training sessions, fellow players called him 'The Milkman' as he was known to always deliver a great performance during matches. This was revealed in a post-match interview after England's loss to Ireland.

International tries

Try	Opposing team	Location	Venue	Competition	Date	Result	Score
1	Ireland	Dublin, Ireland	Croke Park	2007 Six Nations Championship	24 February 2007	Loss	43 - 13
2	Argentina	Salta, Argentina	Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena	Summer International	8 June 2013	Win	32-3

External links

• Saracens profile
• England profile