Austin Sean Healey (born 26 October 1973 in Wallasey (now part of Merseyside, formerly Cheshire), is an English former rugby union player who played as a utility back for Leicester Tigers, and represented both England and the British & Irish Lions.
He has 51 England caps and 2 Lions caps. He played for England at scrum half, fly-half, fullback and wing, and was often used as a replacement (or substitute) because of his versatility. He is a famously competitive and "outspoken" character, gaining the nickname "The Leicester Lip".
Since retiring he has worked in the media.
Healey played for England U21 in 1992 and went on to represent England A and the Barbarians '96 tour of Japan. After spells at Waterloo and Orrell, Healey initially signed for Leicester as a scrum half, having played at wing and outside centre for Orrell. He made his full England début against Ireland during the 1997 Five Nations tournament, and toured with the British Lions in 1997, making two appearances.
He has played in the Five/Six Nations tournaments (‘98-'02) and in the 1999 World Cup. In the 1999/00 season he was voted both Leicester Tigers' and Allied Dunbar's Player of the Season.
Leicester coach Bob Dwyer switched him to the wing to accommodate Fijian Waisale Serevi at scrum half. Healey was then selected on the wing for England.
After an injury to Tigers' South African fly-half Joel Stransky, and the unsuitability of others such as Pat Howard and Andy Goode to fill the role, Healey was switched to fly-half. In this position, however, he was unable to make much of an international impression, his sole appearance at fly-half coming in the 2000 tour to South Africa in the first test, after Jonny Wilkinson fell victim to food poisoning.
In 2001 he made the break during the Heineken Cup final that resulted in the winning try - Healey had started the match at scrum half with Andy Goode at 10, but was switched to fly-half in the closing minutes. He also scored the second and decisive try against Munster when Tigers retained the cup the following year.
Healey's good form for Leicester Tigers during the 2000–01 Premiership Rugby season, was rewarded with three test starts on the right wing for England during the 2001 Six Nations, and selection for his second tour with the British & Irish Lions to Australia as a scrum-half. The tour became notorious however for newspaper columns in which Healey and fellow scrum-half Matt Dawson would publicly reveal the tensions within the playing squad and criticise Head Coach Graham Henry, the "grueling" training regimes and the lack of down-time the players were allowed.
In a Guardian newspaper column published the day before the series decider, Healey again criticised the training schedules and selection, but also ridiculed the Australian lock Justin Harrison and criticised "Australian life" in general. The column referred to Harrison as a "plod", "plank" and "an ape" and seemed to express anti-Australian sentiment with comments like "spin this, you Aussies: up yours", "What is it with this country?" and "What are we going to do with this thing called the Aussie male?"
However, Healey's criticisms seemed to backfire as his column included the comment "Me and the plank. Do you think one of us will have the final say? I'll say so." and while Healey did not play in the final test, Harrison would steal a crucial late lineout, retaining possession for Australia and effectively sealing the series victory. Healey avoided being sent home from the tour, but would later face a disciplinary committee who found him guilty of bringing the Lions into disrepute and breaching his tour contract for which he was fined £2,500.
On his return from Australia he played in every game for England until he was rested for the summer 2002 tour to Argentina, showing his versatility by starting at fullback, scrum half, and wing and came on twice as a replacement.
He returned to international action appearing as a replacement in all three of the following season's autumn internationals when England recorded a series of victories over Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Healey flew out to Australia as injury cover for the victorious 2003 Rugby World Cup, however he was never officially added to the squad after certain players recovered, meaning he was unable to pick up a medal for the success despite flying out to Australia.
Tigers finished top of the league. A notable performance for Healey was Away at Wasps, where he scored in the last minute to steal a draw. However, Wasps hammered Tigers in the final.
In the 05/06 season, Healey was handed club vice-captaincy and regularly captained the team from scrum half and fly half during the international period. He looked back to near his best form and pressed both Harry Ellis and Andy Goode out of their respective regular slots of 9 and 10 at different times throughout the season. Leicester made the premiership final again and were beaten by Sale Sharks, Healey claims to have thrown his silver medal away in disgust at the end of the game, claiming that he didn't do 'losers medals'.
Following retirement from Leicester Tigers at the end of the 2005/6 season, Healey planned to start a new career as a banker with Credit Suisse and to also continue working as a BBC analyst.
Since his retirement, Healey has worked as a rugby journalist and TV pundit for both the BBC and TNT Sports, becoming known for his outspoken opinions. While working for the BBC in the final round of the 2013 Six Nations Championship Healey tweeted "Wow, not much abuse from the Welsh tonight. Aldi must of (sic) had a Special Brew shortage over the weekend. Bring it on next week!" Healey then tweeted "Happy to bet a pound with every person in Wales ENGLAND take the 6 nations". The offer was reported by Wales Online with many people contacting Healey to accept the wager, including his former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips and his Wales adversary Rupert Moon. However, Wales defeated England by 30-3 winning the championship in the process. With Healey tweeting that he would not be honouring the bet.