Beer, Curry & Two Hookers

Beer, Curry & Two Hookers

Mark 'Ronnie' Regan MBE (born 28/1/1972 in Bristol) has played hooker for Bristol, B**h, Leeds Tykes, the Barbarians, England and the British Lions. He has been an outstanding player for all these sides, and his influence since rejoining his home-town club has been tremendous.

Mark has now been granted a Benefit Year running from April 2006 until April 2007. During the course of this year, Mark will also be raising funds for the Wooden Spoon Society and the Bristol Children’s Hospital.

Mark's England breakthrough came whilst at Bristol when he succeeded Brian Moore in 1995 for the visit of South Africa to Twickenham in November. Despite being on the losing side on debut, he retained his place in two subsequent Five Nations Championships. Mark was selected for the 1997 British Lions, and although he was kept out of the first and second tests by the Keith Wood, Mark did get to play in the final test. He also suffered a bizarre mental aberration in this year which caused him to join a club further upstream on the Avon.

He lost form on return from Lions duty and lost his England place to new club mate Andy Long and then Richard Cockerill. Even though he played a major role in B**h's epic Heineken Cup victory over Brive in Bordeaux, Mark remained out of favour with the then England Coach Clive Woodward.

The 1999/2000 saw the rejuvination of Regan the player. He shed over a stone in weight and hit back at critics who believed his line-out throwing was too inconsistent for international level (although he was then, and is now, far more accurate than Steve Thompson, who often appears incapable of hitting a cow’s a**e with a banjo) by turning in some impressive performances for B**h.

Mark returned to the England squad on the tour to South Africa in 2000. He played some of the best rugby of his career and selection for the autumn internationals followed. Though he missed out on the Lions tour to Australia during the summer, he was selected for England's summer tour. However, hindered by injury, Mark struggled to find his early season form. He remained part of the England set up for the 2001-2002 season and again went on tour in the summer to Argentina.

Mark joined the Leeds in August 2002 and quickly became a central figure for the Tykes. His displays not only saw him become a crowd favourite (except with Saints supporters) but also a revival in his international career. He announced his international retirement in 2004 after not being selected against Canada. Mark left Leeds at the end of the 2004-05 season having helped secure the Tykes Premiership status as well as winning a Powergen Cup winners medal against his previous club.

He returned to his home club of Bristol for the current season as we endeavour to retain our place in the Premiership after promotion back to the top division of English Rugby.