Billy Twelvetrees

Billy Twelvetrees

Full name	William Wesley Twelvetrees
Date of birth	15 November 1988
Place of birth	Chichester, England
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	103 kg (227 lb; 16 st 3 lb) [1]
School	The Weald School, Billingshurst
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Centre/Fly-Half
Amateur clubs
Years	Club / team
2006–2008	Leicester Lions
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2008–2009 2009–2012 2012–	Bedford Blues Leicester Tigers Gloucester Rugby	31 46 98	(161) (301) (255)
correct as of 27 February 2016.
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2013– 2013	England Saxons England British and Irish Lions	19	(15)
correct as of 21 March 2015.

William Wesley Twelvetrees (born 15 November 1988) is a rugby union footballer who currently plays centre or fly-half for Gloucester Rugby and inside centre for the England national rugby team.

Whilst playing for the Leicester Tigers, Twelvetrees was nicknamed '36' based on the Irish-accented pronunciation of Twelvetrees by club captain Geordan Murphy, which sounded like "twelve threes" .^[2]

Early life

Twelvetrees grew up in Wisborough Green, West Sussex.^[3] He is the son of Kevin Twelvetrees, a tree surgeon, and Beverley Twelvetrees. He attended Wisborough Green Primary School and later The Weald Secondary School in Billingshurst.^[4] He is the youngest of four brothers who were all encouraged to play rugby by their mother, Beverley, with his older brothers Jonathan and twins Matthew and Joseph providing suitable competition.

Growing up, Twelvetrees was active in a range of sports including football and cricket. During his youth he spent his summer weekends playing for Wisborough Green Cricket Club where he was proficient with the bat: "Billy’s still got the biggest hit for Wisborough Green Cricket Club. From the most distant wicket he cleared the pavilion with a six."

Twelvetrees spent his youth at a succession of Sussex rugby clubs, including a spell at Haywards Heath in the same side as Joe Marler but it was a family friend (a part-owner of Leicester Lions) who would provide Twelvetrees with his first foray into professional rugby. While Twelvetrees was with the Lions, a coach there put him in touch with the-then Leicester Tigers academy manager, Andy Key, and after playing summer Sevens by way of a trial, he was taken on.^[5]

Club career

As a junior, Twelvetrees played for Pulborough, Horsham and Haywards Heath. He joined the Leicester Tigers academy from Leicester Lions in 2007, and moved to Bedford Blues for the 2008–09 season. After an outstanding season for Bedford, in which he scored 18 tries, 16 conversions and 13 penalties, he re-signed for Tigers in 2009.^[6]

He made his first appearance for Leicester in the Heineken Cup on 11 October, filling in for Dan Hipkiss, who was ruled out just prior to kick-off. Despite making his debut with just 10-minutes' notice, he won Man of the Match, scoring a try in a 14-point haul.^[7] Unfortunately, he was injured in his next match and ruled out for a large part of the season. He went on to make just six appearances in 2009–10, scoring four tries.

In the opening games of the 2010–11 season, Leicester lost Toby Flood, Jeremy Staunton and George Ford to injury and Twelvetrees was again thrust into the starting line-up, this time at fly-half.

On 28 January 2012, Twelvetrees signed a two-year deal to move from Leicester Tigers to play for Gloucester Rugby.^[8] However, on 27 September 2013, Twelvetrees signed a two-year contract extension to stay with Gloucester until the end of the 2015-16 season.^[9] On 15 August 2014, Twelvetrees was named new club captain for Gloucester for the 2014-15 season.^[10]

International career

He was called up for the second string national side, England Saxons, in 2011.^[11]

Exactly a year later after leaving Leicester for Gloucester Twelvetrees was handed his first full international cap by Stuart Lancaster for England's Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland at Twickenham, scoring a try on his debut.^[12] On 12 June 2013, following an impressive performance against Argentina, Twelvetrees was called up to the British and Irish Lions Tour of Australia due to concerns about possible injuries sustained by the fly halves and centres prior to the tests.^[13]

International tries

Try	Opposing team	Location	Venue	Competition	Date	Result	Score
1	Scotland	London, England	Twickenham	2013 Six Nations	2 February 2013	Win	38 – 18 [14]
†	Barbarian F.C.	London, England	Twickenham	Summer International	26 May 2013	Win	40 – 12 [15]
2	Argentina	Salta, Argentina	Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena	Summer International	8 June 2013	Win	32 - 3 [16]
3	Argentina	London, England	Twickenham	Autumn International	9 November 2013	Win	31 – 12 [17]

† Full international cap not awarded for Barbarians Test match ^[18]

References

1. "Aviva Premiership Rugby – Gloucester Rugby". web page. Premier Rugby. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
2. Hands, David (13 October 2009). "Leicester ponder whether to let Billy Twelvetrees put down roots". The Times. London. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
3. Kitson, Robert (27 January 2012). "Billy Twelvetrees 'There are a lot of frustrations at Leicester'". London: Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
4. "Billy Twelvetrees – Official RFU England Profile". RFU.com. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
5. Foy, Chris (29 January 2013). "Billy Twelvetrees has his supportive mother to thank ahead of Calcutta Cup". London: Mail Online. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
6. "Leicester land fly-half Staunton". BBC Sport. 29 July 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2009.
7. Turnbill, Simon (12 October 2009). "Leicester rescued by dream debutant". London: The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 October 2009.
8. "Twelvetrees move to Gloucester announced but Leicester chief unhappy with switch". London: The Daily Mail. 28 January 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
9. "Twelvetrees contract extension with Gloucester". BBC Sport. 27 September 2013.
10. "Billy Twelvetrees named new Gloucester club captain". Gloucester Rugby. 15 August 2014.
11. "England Saxons 45–17 Italy A". BBC News. 29 January 2011.
12. "Billy Twelvetrees to make England debut v Scotland". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
13. "Twelvetrees joins Lions squad". www.planetrugby.com. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
14. "Six Nations: England 38-18 Scotland". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
15. "England 40-12 Barbarians: Freddie Burns shines in win". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
16. Mike Henson. "Argentina 3-32 England: Tourists brush Pumas aside in first Test". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
17. "England beat Argentina at home ahead of All Blacks test". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
18. "England 40-12 Barbarians: Freddie Burns shines in win". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-03-18.

External links

• Leicester Tigers profile
• Gloucester Rugby profile