Date of birth | 8 September 1964 | ||||||||||||
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Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||||||||||||
Weight | 238 lb (108 kg) | ||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||
Playing career | |||||||||||||
Position | Prop | ||||||||||||
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National team(s) | |||
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Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
1992-1999 | England | 24 | (5) |
Victor Eriakpo Ubogu (born 8 September 1964 in Nigeria) is a former Bath and England rugby union player.
He came to the UK from Lagos, Nigeria in 1977 and attended West Buckland School in Devon where he received the school's top award, the Fortescue Medal. While at school he played for England Under 18s. He went on to the University of Birmingham to study Chemical engineering. While at university he played for Moseley. He went on to St Anne's College, Oxford where he was selected to play for the University of Oxford RFC and achieved his Blue. After leaving Oxford he joined Bath Rugby. He started for Bath in the victorious 1998 Heineken Cup Final as they defeated Brive. In 1992 he became a prop for the England national rugby union team where he remained until 1999.
Combining the size and strength typical of a prop with unusual speed for a player specializing in this position, Ubogu was often a highly effective ball-carrier in broken play. Against well-drilled international defences he sometimes lacked penetration, but he frequently embarrassed club-level opposition.
He founded the "Shoeless Joe's" chain of sports bars and did a nude interview on TV and now owns and runs a travel company, offering hospitality at sporting events.
In 2001, Ubogu appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank.