Budge Pountney Rugby player
Anthony (Budge) Charles Pountney (born 13 November 1973 in Southampton) is the former Director of Rugby at Northampton Saints rugby union club. He formerly played at flanker for Northampton and Scotland. He captained Scotland. Whilst at Northampton he started in the victorious 2000 Heineken Cup Final as they defeated Munster.Pountney was eligible for Scotland by virtue of a grandmother born in the Channel Islands; as a dependency of the Crown outside of the United Kingdom, people from the Islands are eligible to represent whichever of the Home Nations they choose. He started his Rugby career playing for the Winchester rugby football club mini rugby sides and from an early age it was evident that he would be a star of the future. He attended Kings' School and Peter Symonds College in Winchester and De Montfort University. In January 2003 he left Murrayfield in frustration for the last time, after speaking his mind very plainly on the problems he saw there. Late in 2004 he became head coach of Northampton Saints, together with former England fly-half and teammate Paul Grayson. In July 2005 he became Director of Rugby.Since quitting top class rugby, he has worked as an independent citing officer, reviewing English Rugby Premiership matches.In the summer of 2013 he became Director of Rugby at Bournemouth RFC who play in National Division 2 South.
