Benedict James Kay MBE was born on 14 December 1975 and is a retired English international rugby union footballer who played Second row forward for Leicester Tigers and England.
20 Facts About Ben Kay
2.
Ben Kay first started playing rugby for Waterloo minis going on to play for the Waterloo first team.
3.
Ben Kay played for his school and has played for Queensland University.
4.
Ben Kay represented England in the 1996 Students World Cup in South Africa and at U18, U19 and U21 level.
5.
Ben Kay attended Loughborough University, where he obtained a degree in Sports Science.
6.
Ben Kay joined Leicester Tigers from Waterloo in 1999 and first played during the World Cup, with Tigers' normal Second rows Martin Johnson and Fritz van Heerden away with England and South Africa respectively.
7.
Ben Kay was a member of Tigers' Heineken Cup winning sides in 2001 and 2002 as his international career blossomed.
8.
Ben Kay made his England debut against Canada on 2 June 2001 displacing Danny Grewcock from the England side.
9.
Ben Kay was in the starting line-up for all the Six Nations games in 2002, and scored a try against Ireland.
10.
Ben Kay confirmed his status as a core part of the England squad in the World Cup when he played every minute of every England game except the game against Uruguay.
11.
England won regardless, partly as a result of Tigers' teammate Lewis Moody winning a line-out Ben Kay himself had called.
12.
Ben Kay was the only player to play every minute of England's 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign culminating in their narrow loss in the Final.
13.
Ben Kay was one of only four players to have started both the 2003 and 2007 RWC Finals, the other three being Jonny Wilkinson, Jason Robinson and Phil Vickery.
14.
Ben Kay helped Leicester win the Premiership in 2007, starting the final as they defeated Gloucester.
15.
Ben Kay was a used replacement in every game of the 2008 Six Nations.
16.
Ben Kay has since worked as a commentator for ESPN and BT Sport.
17.
Ben Kay served as non-executive director on Leicester Tigers' board of directors between 2014 and 2021.
18.
In 2002, Ben Kay married long-time girlfriend Virginia, a physiotherapist, and they have two children.
19.
Ben Kay's long time Leicester Tigers and England teammate Martin Johnson was an usher at his wedding.
20.
Ben Kay paid his respects to his former sports teacher at Merchant Taylors, Ian 'Robbo' Robinson, who died in a white water rafting incident whilst on a rugby tour with the school.