ANDREW SHERIDAN

'Andrew Sheridan' (born in 1 November 1979 in Petts Wood, Bromley, England) is a rugby union player, who plays loosehead prop for Sale that stands at 6 foot 5 inches tall (1.95 metres) and weighs 18 stone 10 pounds (119 kgs). He is reputed to be the strongest man in English rugby union, able to bench press 225 kilograms (33st,over 495 lbs) and squat 275 kilograms (over 600 lbs).
He started playing rugby union at the age of nine with Old Elthamians and was with them for five years, until he went to Dulwich College. There he worked his way through the Surrey age group teams and was capped by both the England U16 and U18 Group Schools teams as a lock.
He joined Richmond in the 1998-99 season and as they folded won a place in the England U21 squad that played in the 1999 SANZAR tournament in Argentina. On his return he joined Bristol, where he made around 80 appearances. Sheridan was switched from lock to loosehead prop by New Zealander Peter Thorburn while at Bristol. He showed his versatility by also playing at Number 8.
In 2000 he also went on England’s tour to South Africa and in 2001/02 played for England A against Ireland A and France A. In 2003 he was in England’s Churchill Cup squad in Canada, the USA and Japan and came back to join his new club, Sale Sharks, after Bristol’s relegation from the Premiership.
In December 2003 he also played for the England XV that took on the Barbarians immediately following England’s Rugby World Cup success. He finally won his first cap for England coming on as a replacement against Canada in November 2004.
He was somewhat controversially selected for the 2005 Lions tour of New Zealand as many felt with only one cap to his name he was unlikely to feature heavily. On the 2005 tour, he was sent to the sin-bin after attempting to punch Luke McAlister following a clash of heads in the game against New Zealand Māori. However, he would establish his reputation later that year in England's November Test against Australia, playing the main role in shattering the Australian front row. Neither of his opposite numbers finished the match. First, Al Baxter proved unable to deal with Sheridan's power, and was eventually sin-binned late in the second half for collapsing a scrum after being warned for repeated scrum violations. Shortly afterwards, Matt Dunning, who was forced to move opposite Sheridan, was stretchered off after a scrum with what was feared to be a serious neck injury. Fortunately, scans showed no structural damage to Dunning's neck. Due to the sin-binning and Dunning's injury, the referee ordered uncontested scrums for the last 10 minutes of the match. The media hype surrounding Sheridan's performance was reduced somewhat after Wales also destroyed the Australian scrum a week later, suggesting that in fact Australian weakness rather than the overhyped power of Sheridan was the key factor in the England scrum performance.
He made his England breakthrough with his one-man demolition job on Australia's scrum at Twickenham in 2005 and was included in the 2006 Six nations squad. He is regarded as England's long-term loosehead to succeed Graham Rowntree. However, in November 2006 he was comprehensively outscrummed during England's record defeat to New Zealand at Twickenham.

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★ England profile