Dan Norton

Dan Norton

Birth name	Daniel John Norton
Date of birth	(1988-03-22) 22 March 1988
Place of birth	Gloucester, England
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	85 kg (187 lb)
School	Brockworth Enterprise School
University	Hartpury College
Rugby union career
Position(s) Wing, Fullback Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 2007–2009 2007–2009 2009–2011 2011– 2020– Gloucester → Moseley (loan) Bristol Hartpury College London Irish 1 37 31 7 (0) (120) (90) (55)
Medal record Men's rugby sevens Representing Great Britain Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team competition Representing England Commonwealth Games 2018 Gold Coast Team competition

Daniel John Norton (born 22 March 1988) is a rugby union player for London Irish. He is the leading all-time try scorer in rugby sevens history with over 350 tries, beating the previous record of 244 held by Kenya's Collins Injera at the 2017 Hong Kong Sevens tournament.

A product of Hartpury College, Norton played most his career as a winger. Norton was part of the Gloucester academy and dual registered with Moseley for both the 2007/08 and 2008/09 seasons. Moving on to Bristol Bears (Previously Bristol Rugby) from the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons.

Norton competed at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics where he scored a try in the final, but was unable to prevent a 43-7 drubbing by Fiji. He helped the England rugby sevens team secure bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast with a 21-14 win over South Africa and the same side that won silver at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco 2018.

International

Norton helped England U20s to a Six Nations Grand Slam title in 2008.

During the 2010–2011 season, Norton's main focus was on the 7s format, playing in the Commonwealth Games and a regular in the IRB Sevens World Series. Norton has been a core-contracted Sevens player to the RFU since the 2011-12 season. Norton scored 37 tries in the 2011/12 series – second only to England teammate Mat Turner with 38. In December 2012, Norton scored his 100th career try for England against Scotland in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Norton led all try-scorers in the 2012–13 season with 52 tries. Norton is top of the all-time list of try scorers on the World Rugby Sevens Series.

Norton has exceptional pace, the ability to sidestep of either foot, and with a good kicking game. Norton is one of the quickest players on the 7s circuit, with a personal best for the 40m of 4.78 seconds.

Club

Norton made his name at Hartpury College where his dynamic performances on the wing and at fullback earned him a senior contract with Gloucester from 2007 to 2009. He was instrumental in helping Moseley (on loan from Gloucester) win the EDF National Trophy in 2009, scoring a try against Leeds in the final at Twickenham.

In April 2009, it was announced that Norton would be joining Bristol for the next season. Norton played the start of the 2009–2010 for Bristol and soon established himself as the top scorer, as Bristol reached the Championship play-off final in 2010, going on to win the British & Irish Cup in 2011. However, after returning from England sevens duty his time with the different format seemed to lose his edge, and was not given enough time to convert, becoming a bit part player for the rest of the season. Although he re-established himself in the B&I Cup winning Bristol side at the end of the 2010-11 season, he was not included in the Bristol retained players list announced at the end of May 2011.

Norton is an ambassador for Mizuno Rugby.

Family

Dan also has a cousin, Aaron Jones who is a solo artist/actor and motorcyclist known as Greighwolfe, based in Brighton, United Kingdom.

Honours

Moseley

• National Trophy: 2009

Bristol

• British and Irish Cup: 2011

England

• Dubai 7s: 2011

External links

• Dan Norton at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Gloucester Rugby profile
• England 7s profile
• Dan Norton YouTube Highlights
• Dan Norton at the World Rugby Men's Sevens Series (archived)