Nick Duncombe

{{Short description|English rugby union player}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Use British English|date=September 2016}} thumb|right|200px|Memorial statue of the late Nick Duncombe, at The Stoop'''Nick Duncombe''' (21 January 1982 – 14 February 2003) was an English rugby union player who played for Harlequins and England. Duncombe was the England senior team's youngest debutant scrum-half at the time of his debut and won two international caps before his death at age 21.

==Biography== Duncombe attended the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, which was known for its rugby tradition. At school, he excelled in various sports including cricket and football and began playing for the England national youth teams and England Schoolboys. A neck injury he sustained during an England youth game in 2000 nearly ended his career but he recovered.<ref>{{cite news|title=Talking School Sport: RGS High Wycombe revel in succession of scrum-halves|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/2430010/Talking-School-Sport-RGS-High-Wycombe-revel-in-succession-of-scrum-halves.html|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=4 February 2002}}</ref>

==Career== Duncombe initially played for the Saracens' youth squads before joining Harlequins. He made his professional debut in 2002.<ref name="death">{{cite news|title=England scrum-half dies|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/english/2765639.stm|publisher=BBC|date=15 February 2003}}</ref>

On 2 February 2002 Clive Woodward gave Duncombe his England début<ref>{{cite news|title=Nick Duncombe Harlequins and England scrum-half|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/nick-duncombe-36271.html?r=64519|accessdate=24 February 2022|work=The Independent|date=17 February 2003}}</ref> as a half-time replacement for the injured Kyran Bracken against Scotland at Murrayfield. Selection came after having played just 270 minutes of senior rugby for Harlequins' first XV – and just 12 days after his 20th birthday – making him England's youngest scrum half of the professional era.{{cn|date=March 2026}} He earned his second cap in the next fixture against Ireland on 16 February 2002.

Duncombe also represented England in sevens at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

==Death== Duncombe contracted meningitis while on a training trip to Lanzarote.<ref name="death"/>

A statue of Duncombe is displayed at Harlequins' home ground, The Stoop. On the front of the statue, the plinth reads:<ref>{{cite news|title=Statue: Nick Duncombe|url=https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/nick-duncombe|publisher=London Remembers}}</ref>

Nick Duncombe, 1982–2003. Harlequins & England. 'Carpe Diem'

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * [https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/sports_talk/2768053.stm Tribute to Nick Duncombe] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071006081947/http://www.schoolsrugby.co.uk/Tournaments/default.asp?TID=3&Season=19992000 The Schools' Rugby Website, Player of the Tournamanet at the St Joseph's Festival] * [http://www.sportnetwork.net/main/s98/st20153.htm Fansite tribute] ** [http://www.sportnetwork.net/main/s98/st20121.htm Harlequins press release archived on fansite]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncombe, Nick}} Category:1982 births Category:2003 deaths Category:Deaths from meningitis in Spain Category:England international rugby union players Category:English rugby union players Category:People educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe Category:Rugby union scrum-halves Category:Harlequin F.C. players