Tim Richard George Stimpson (born 10 September 1973 in Liverpool) is a rugby union international full back who is now semi-retired from the game, and is player-coach for 2nd division team Nuneaton R.F.C. in Warwickshire. During his career he played for Wakefield, West Hartlepool, Newcastle Falcons, Leicester Tigers, Perpignan and Leeds Tykes, England and the British Lions.
Biography
In 1995 Stimpson graduated in Anthropology from Grey College, Durham.
He went on the 1997 British Lions tour to South Africa and would have played in the tests as first choice full back were it not for the better goal-kicking of Neil Jenkins that would be crucial to the Lions' series victory.
He fell out with Newcastle's management and Rob Andrew, in the year that they won the league and did not make many appearances for them, signing at the end of the year for Leicester Tigers. After the retirement of Joel Stransky he became Leicester Tigers' principle goalkicker.
In the 2001 Heineken Cup final against Stade Francais he converted Leon Lloyd's try from the right-hand touchline (the most difficult position to kick a conversion from for a right-footed kicker) to take the match from 32-30 to 34-30 to Leicester; thus meaning that Stade would have to score a try to win the match, which they failed to do.
In the 2002 Heineken Cup semi-final against Llanelli he scored a long range penalty in windy conditions from the half-way line that took the match from 10-12 to Llanelli to 13-12 to Leicester; the ball hit one of the posts and the crossbar before falling over. Tigers went on to win the final.
In 2003 he was rumoured to be linked to French club Perpignan despite having time left on his contract at Leicester. Despite initial denials from Tigers' management, he did sign and moved to France after the 2003 World Cup, Tigers releasing him from his contract. However, he failed to play for Perpignan and in 2004 returned to England to play for Leeds Tykes.