Archer, Gareth

The early years

Gareth's father is a rugby player who played for the Newcastle Gosfort team in the wing position in the 1970s. Gareth was more interested in football, but at school he became interested in rugby, partly due to the fact that his father brought him once to the Westow club training, and partly because he was taller and more powerful than his peers in complexion. He joined the England national team until the age of 16 and then played at all levels until he joined the main national team ^[1] .

By profession, Archer was a carpenter, speaking for the amateur clubs Durham City and Newcastle Gosfort. Military service in the British Army took place in Dorset in the mid-1990s, which caused him to spend a lot of time in Bristol ^[1] .

Professional career

Archer played for his career for the Bristol Schogans and Newcastle Falcons teams, becoming one of those players who saw the beginning of the era of professional rugby in Europe ^[1] . As part of “Newcastle” he spent 20 matches and won the championship of England of the 1997/1998 season ^[2] , which he calls the most important moment in his career - in a bitter absentee fight his team turned out to be stronger than “ Saracen ” ^[1] . He missed the final of the Anglo-Welsh Cup in 2001, which won the Bristol under the leadership of Dean Ryan ^{[3] [1]} , but he won the same tournament with Newcastle in 2004, playing in the same tune with Mark Andrews ^{[4] [1]} . Due to a back injury, he prematurely ended his playing career ^[5] . He played 21 games in European competitions, taking 4 attempts and gaining 20 points ^[6] .

Archer spent 21 matches with England. The debut game took place on March 2, 1996 at the Five Nations Cup against Scotland at the Scottish Marrifield and ended in a victory for the British with a score of 18: 9 - six penalties were successfully won, successfully implemented by Paul Grayson ^[1] . At that tournament, he also played against Ireland , and the British won the Cup of Five Nations ^[1] . In 1997, Archer was noted for five matches, including against the New Zealand All Blacks (during his career he played twice against the New Zealanders) ^[1] and the Australian Wallabees . In 1998, he spent 8 games in the England national team, and in 1999 played two matches at the World Cup in Wales against Fiji and Tonga ^[1] . At the same time, Gareth noted that he was not at his peak during the World Cup, and his team did not have a set of players to fight for victory at that time ^[1] . The last game he played on April 2, 2000 against the Scots again at the Marrifield ^[7] . The reason for his withdrawal from the team was a serious injury, during which time Archer's place in the team was reserved by Danny Gruckok ^[1] .

Beyond Gaming

At the end of his playing career, Archer engaged in rowing professionally, speaking in the so-called discipline of “rowing indoors” - rowers control special rowing machines, the distance covered is fixed using equipment. In 2008, Archer became the bronze medalist in the absolute championship of England, and in 2009 at the championship of Great Britain He won the absolute championship, beating even the official members of the UK team ^[8] .

• England Championship Profile
• Sporting Heroes