Alex Brown (born the 17 May 1979 in Bristol) is an English rugby union footballer, who plays lock for Gloucester Rugby.
He attended the famous Colston's Collegiate School in Bristol.
After a brief period with Bath and Pontypool, he joined his home city club Bristol Shoguns and was a key player when they won the first Under 21 Zurich Premiership. Under the tutelage of rugby director Dean Ryan, he was voted the club’s player of the year in the 2000-01 season. Brown's father also played rugby for Bristol.
He attended the famous Colston's Collegiate School in Bristol.
After a brief period with Bath and Pontypool, he joined his home city club Bristol Shoguns and was a key player when they won the first Under 21 Zurich Premiership. Under the tutelage of rugby director Dean Ryan, he was voted the club’s player of the year in the 2000-01 season. Brown's father also played rugby for Bristol.
Brown signed for Gloucester Rugby in the summer of 2003 rejoining Dean Ryan. The England ‘A’ international topped the line-out statistics charts during the 2003-04 season and was voted the players’ player of the year.
He played for England A in the first Churchill Cup and was called this season to England's 2005 Autumn test squad. Brown was expected to make his international debut against Australia in November, but he suffered a neck injury and was ruled out of the entire Autumn programme. Now fully fit again, he will challenge strongly for recognition during the RBS 6 Nations, but he faces a tough challenge trying to split up Bath second-row pairing Danny Grewcock and Steve Borthwick.
Alex, who has completed his fourth season with Gloucester after switching from Bristol, made his England debut in the first Test against Australia in Sydney in June 2006. He had already turned his all-round skills into the status of a record breaker. When making the 82nd of his 87 consecutive Zurich Premiership appearances against London Irish in September 2004, he shattered the previous longest unbroken run set by Derek Eves, then of Bristol. Educated at Colston’s Collegiate, he scored the Premiership try of the season for Gloucester against Leicester Tigers in 2003-04.
He is a sound lineout strategist, quick around the field and was part of an elite 30-man England squad for the first time in the autumn of 2005. Unluckily, disc problems in his neck discounted him from Tests that November against Australia, New Zealand and Samoa.
Alex took up the game when five at the Clifton club and gained experience at Bath and Pontypool before switching to Bristol, where he started all 28 Premiership and Heineken Cup matches during his last season with the club in 2002-03. He has played for England Under-19s, 21s and the A team, renamed the Saxons before the 2006 Barclays Churchill Cup in North America. He became only the fifth player after Pete Miles, Mike Lloyd, Alistair Saverimutto and Neil McCarthy to wear the colours of all three first-class West Country clubs – Bath, Bristol and Gloucester. Alex agreed a new three-year contract with the Cherry and Whites in January 2005.
