Ayoola Erinle

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Ayoola Erinle bigraphy, stories - English rugby union player

Ayoola Erinle : biography

20 February 1980 –

Ayoola Erinle (born 20 February 1980 in Lagos, Nigeria) is an England international rugby union player currently playing for US Carcassonne. He was educated at The Oratory School and at King’s College London, representing both his school 1st XV and the King’s College Rugby Club 1st XV.

A big, strong and a powerful runner, Erinle was one of the biggest centres in the Premiership. He was a member of the England Saxons side that won the 2007 Churchill Cup, having already represented his country at that level in 2005 and 2006, as well as on the England Sevens on the rugby sevens circuit aged just 19. He gained Sevens honours again in 2008 and was a close challenger for the Premiership top try scorer three years earlier in the 2003-04 Zurich Premiership.

Before joining London Wasps in 2000, Erinle played for local team Reading RFC.

Erinle spent seven years at Wasps and his finishing power brought eleven tries in nineteen appearances for Wasps during the 2004-05 season, while his final total reads 26 tries in 106 games for the club.

In 2007, Erinle joined the Leicester Tigers.

In 2009 it was announced the Erinle had signed with French team Biarritz Olympique.

On 4 November 2009, he was named in the 22-man England squad to face Australia in the 2009 Autumn internationals. After winning his first cap as a replacement against Australia, Erinle was named in the starting XV for the game against the All Blacks.

In August 2011 he joined Nottingham in the Aviva Championship, joining up with Director of Rugby Glenn Delaney for a second spell.

In August 2012 he joined US Carcassonne in the Pro D2.

Personal life

During his time at Leicester, Erinle and team-mates George Chuter, Dan Hipkiss and Sam Vesty, performed as a band to raise money for the Matt Hampson Trust. In this band (named "Slo Progress") Erinle was the drummer.

In October 2003, Erinle appeared three times as a contestant on British game show Countdown.