Marland Yarde

Early life

Born in Castries, Saint Lucia, Yarde moved to England as a nine-year-old. He came through the England age-group teams after taking up rugby at 14 having originally played football with the Queens Park Rangers Academy. He then earned a scholarship to Whitgift School in South Croydon.

Club career

Marland returned to London Irish from London Welsh ready for the 2010 season. In his debut season, Marland made one appearance for Irish, against Sale Sharks, He started at wing and in his debut match he scored a try. This wasn't enough to force his way through to the main team. The following season was an improvement, where he appeared for Irish a further 9 times, but his only tries came in the 52-point demolition of Gloucester, when he came on as a replacement to score two tries. In the 2012/2013 season he appeared 23 times for Irish, scoring 7 tries, including a hat-trick against Worcester Warriors.

In January 2014 he signed a two-year contract to join Harlequins for the 2014–15 season. He finished his spell at Irish on a high note, scoring 20 points in his final two games including a hat trick against Gloucester Rugby.

International career

Yarde won his first England cap on 15 June 2013, against Argentina in the second Test of their summer tour. Named in the starting XV, he scored two tries in their record 51–26 victory. He retained his place for the first Autumn International of 2013 against Australia which England won 20–13, though he missed the two other games against Argentina and New Zealand through injury.

A torn hip tendon sustained in London Irish's game against Leicester Tigers meant that he played no part in the 2014 Six Nations, though he did return to the training squad for the last two games against Wales and Italy. He was selected for the 2014 summer tour to New Zealand and started in all three tests, scoring two tries.

International tries

† Full international cap not awarded for Barbarians Test match.