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Revision as of 14:43, 24 May 2006 by Cvene64 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Oliver John Barkley (born 28 November 1981 in Hammersmith) is an English rugby union footballer who plays at fly-half or centre for Bath. Barkley has the unique distinction of playing for his country before making his full senior club debut. Barkley was born in London but raised in Cornwall.
Educated at Colston's Collegiate School, Bristol where under the guidance of Alan Martinovic he captained the team to a Daily Mail Cup success in 2000. Barkley apparently had trials for Plymouth Argyle and was offered a trial with Arsenal, though he preferred to play basketball.
He made his debut for England during the summer tour to North America in 2001 in a game against the United States on June 16 in San Francisco. He received a call-up from whilst he was having a stint with the Marist club in Christchurch, coming on in the second half as a replacement in the 48-19 win. He was only 19 years old at the time, and was even before he had made a senior appearance for his club.
He made his Heineken Cup debut for Bath on October 6, 2001, coming on as a reserve against Swansea. He scored his first Heineken Cup try in a game against Italian club Gran Rugby whilst playing at fullback on October 11, 2002 in Parma.
He returned to the England side in 2004, as a reserve in the opening game of the 2004 Six Nations against Italy in Rome. He held his position for the subsequent match against Ireland at Twickenham. He made a breakthrough in 2004 when Sir Clive Woodward handed him England's number 10 jersey for RBS Six Nations clashes against Wales when he replaced an injured Paul Grayson at fly half and France, scoring 27 points over the two games. It is thought that from his promotion in the 2004 Six Nations that he became a regular member of the squad. Later on in 2004 during the mid-year tests against the southern hemisphere nations, Barkley was a reserve for the matches against the All Blacks in Auckland, coming on to replace injured centre Mike Tindall and the Wallabies in Brisbane.
He started off the 2005 Six Nations as a reserve in the opening match against Wales in Cardiff. He started the next match against France at Twickenham where he scored a try in the 17 to 18 loss. He subsequently started the remaining matches against Ireland, Italy and Scotland. He was a reserve in two other matches in 2005, against the Wallabies and in a game against Samoa. Barkley dislocated his thumb in a club match against Leinster Rugby, the injury ruled him out of the opening game of the 2006 Six Nations Championship, which was against Wales on February 4. After further investigation, it was decided that Barkley would need an operation to fix the to his thumb. The operation on the dislocation would likely rule him out of competition for six weeks.