Brian Moore

Brian Christopher Moore (born 11 January 1962) is an English former rugby union footballer.

He played as a hooker, and is a rugby presenter and pundit for BBC Sport, Talksport and Love Sport Radio.

Moore represented England, winning a total of 64 England caps between 1987 and 1995, making him the 13th most-capped Englishman (as of July 2007).

In Australia in 1989, the Lions won the series 2–1, and Moore was famously caught celebrating the morning after on Sydney Harbour Bridge, doing aeroplane impressions.

In 1990 he moved to London to train as a solicitor, and played for Harlequins.

Moore ended his club career at Richmond.

Known for reading Shakespeare – in particular, parts of Henry V before a game in the dressing room to his teammates, Moore played in three Rugby World Cups including in 1991 where along with Jason Leonard and Jeff Probyn he was part of a destructive English front row as they reached the final, losing a tight match 12–6 to Australia at Twickenham.

Moore was also a member of the England side which won Grand Slams in 1991, 1992 and 1995.

In 1991, he was voted Rugby World Player of the Year, a decade before the sport's governing body (the IRB), began its awards programme.

He went on two British and Irish Lions tours, winning five test caps.

Although still qualified to practise, he has not done so since 2003.

After retirement, Moore continued his legal career, and was asked regularly by the BBC to supplement their rugby commentary team.

It is his full-time career, and he regularly commentated alongside Eddie Butler on the BBC's rugby union coverage, including the English matches in the Six Nations Championship.

Moore is known for his blunt and straight-talking style.

The shame he felt at being a victim of abuse made him keep silent about it until he visited the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre in London in 2008.

He said the trauma made him ferociously competitive on the rugby field, and commented "If you have been abused, you feel tainted by association with the awfulness of the crime."

in 2008, he was heard to yell "They've kicked it away again, for God's sake!", when England did not run the ball in Rome, and shouted "You halfwit!"

when an England forward played a French restart which had fallen short of the required ten metres, causing England to lose possession when they would otherwise have been awarded a scrum.

Moore has made other media appearances, including in November 2008 on Question Time.

Moore has had books published by Simon & Schuster.

Moore writes on rugby, with a Monday column for The Daily Telegraph, and was shortlisted for Sports Journalist of the Year in the 2009 British Press Awards.

After meeting Richard Stott at a corporate dinner, he wrote a wine column in the Today newspaper, transferred to the Sun for four years.

His updated version of his autobiography, Beware of the Dog (2009), won the 2010 William Hill Sports Book of the Year award, among what was described as one of the strongest shortlists ever assembled.

He qualified as a Rugby Football Union referee in 2010.

Moore was born to single mother Rina Kirk in Birmingham.

Abandoned by his father, his mother gave him up for adoption at 7 months old to Methodist lay preachers Ralph (deceased) and Dorothy Moore, of Halifax, West Yorkshire, where he lived in Illingworth and attended the Crossley and Porter School.

He first played rugby union for the Old Crossleyans.

Moore studied law at the University of Nottingham gaining an LLB (Hons) degree in 1984, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Law on 14 July 2010.

Moore played as an amateur senior for Nottingham, the club where he made his name.

During his time at Nottingham he won his first England caps and toured Australia with the British and Irish Lions.

Having been a vocal critic of referees for many years, Moore took the Rugby Football Union's Entry Level Referee Award course and qualified as a referee in 2010.

Moore trained as a solicitor, and he was a partner in both Edward Lewis LLP, and later Memery Crystal LLP.

His 6 Nations broadcasting was, as part of the overall BBC coverage, shortlisted in the Sport category of the 2011 BAFTA Television Awards..

Moore covered the 2011 Rugby World Cup for TalkSport Radio as lead co-commentator.

He commentated on this tournament alongside Michael Owen, Scott Quinnell, Gavin Hastings, Paul Wallace, Phil Vickery, John Taylor, Andrew McKenna and David Campese.

The coverage was shortlisted in the Broadcast of the Year category in the 2011 Sports Journalists Awards.

He returned to Talksport in 2013 for their exclusively live coverage of the British and Irish Lions Tour of Australia, he presented every tour match live with Mark Saggers and commentated on the 3 test matches live.

He commentated with Andrew McKenna, David Campese, Shane Williams, Michael Lynagh, Sean Holley and Sir Ian McGeechan.

He joined talksport permanently in 2013–14 and now hosts their rugby show, Full Contact, every Sunday from 8pm to 10pm.

He also co-hosted the Sports Breakfast alongside Alan Brazil on Tuesday mornings from 6am to 10am before leaving the station in 2016.