Ugo Monye

Personal information

Full name

Ugochukwu Chiedozie Monye

Date of birth

13 April 1983 (age 33)

Place of birth

Islington, London, England

Height

1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)

Weight

92 kg (14 st 7 lb)

School

Lord Wandsworth College

Relatives

Jude Monye

Club information

Position

Wing / Centre / Fullback

Current club

Harlequins

Youth clubs

Years	Club
	Harlequins

Senior clubs*

Years	Club	Apps (points)
2002–2015	Harlequins	237 (435)

Representative teams**

2008–2012
2009
2015

England
British and Irish Lions
Barbarian FC
England Saxons

14 (10)
2 (5)

* Professional club appearances and points
counted for domestic first grade only and
correct as of 7 March 2015.
** Representative team caps and points correct
as of 10 November 2012.

Ugochukwu "Ugo" Chiedozie Monye (born 13 April 1983 in Islington, London) is a former English international rugby union player who played club rugby for Harlequins in the Aviva Premiership.

As a youth Monye was a star athlete, and competed in the English Schools' Championships finishing 5th in his heat with a personal best of 10.60 seconds in the 100 metres at the age of 16. He is also friends with Olympians Mark Lewis-Francis and Tyrone Edgar who also competed in the English Schools' Championship.

Monye was a student at Lord Wandsworth College, best known for producing Jonny Wilkinson, Monye played for Hampshire U17s and U20s, as well as achieving success on the track.

In deciding which to pursue, Monye was fortunate that his former sports master Tim Richardson put him in touch with Harlequins U19 coach Colin Osborne. When the club offered him a professional contract after a few games he jumped at the opportunity and within 12 months he was a member of the England Sevens team that had won the Hong Kong Sevens. Monye was a key member of the England Sevens squad throughout the 2002–03 and 2003–04 IRB World Sevens Series, and was part of the team that competed in the 2005 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Hong Kong. He was also part of the England Saxons sides that won the Churchill Cup in 2005 and 2008. He first played for Harlequins in the friendly against Glasgow Warriors in August 2002 and began the following season with five tries in two matches including a hat trick against Rotherham Titans at Millmoor.

His scent of the line is something to which Exeter Chiefs would testify. He scored five tries against them when Harlequins won 70–5 at Twickenham Stoop as the side roared straight back to the Guinness Premiership after a season in National One during which Monye scored 16 tries. Before the 2009–10 season, he had run in 47 in 105 games for the club.

Monye scored his first try for England against Scotland at Twickenham in the Six Nations on 21 March 2009. Monye made his England debut in England's 39–13 victory over the Pacific Islanders at Twickenham in 2008 and started the rest of the autumn internationals against Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

Selected for the 2009 Lions tour of South Africa and made the XV for the first Test in Durban where he came close to scoring two tries. In the first half he was prevented from scoring as he dived over the try line but Jean de Villiers got his hand underneath the ball to prevent a try. In the latter stages of the second half, Monye was through to score but was tackled by Morne Steyn and lost control of the ball.

...
Wikipedia