Courtney Lawes

Courtney Lawes (born 23 February 1989 in Hackney, England) is a professional rugby player for Northampton Saints, who play in the Aviva Premiership. Lawes is a versatile player, and can play either in the second or back row. Lawes grew up near Northampton. Lawes is a product of Northampton Old Scouts, the same club that produced his former team mate Rob Milligan as well as Ben Cohen and Steve Thompson, amongst others. Lawes has won England representative honours for the U18 and U20 sides and won his first senior cap against Australia in November 2009.

Career

He toured Australia with England Under 18s in 2007 and made his Saints first team debut against Esher in National One in the 2007–08 season. He missed out on the 2008 U20s Six Nations through injury but featured in the IRB Junior World Championship that year.

The following season (2008–09) he played in the Guinness Premiership, the EDF Energy Trophy and the European Challenge Cup, receiving the Man of The Match award in the home game against Montpellier. He established a reputation for making huge, notably in the final of the ECC Tournament against Bourgoin where he hit Morgan Parra in a tackle so hard that his shoulder dislocated and in the 2015 Six Nations Championship match against France with a huge tackle on Jules Plisson.