Jason became England's most capped player of all time when he won his 86th cap in England's 19-0 defeat of Argentina on 25th November 2000. The prop forward passed the record previously set by Rory Underwood and to mark the occasion led out the England team to a standing ovation from the Twickenham crowd.



It was fitting that Argentina were the opposition that day as they were the side Jason made his England debut against back in 1990. England also faced Argentina on the one occasion he captained the side back in 1996. This game also provided Jason with his only try for England to date.

Jason was a member of the back-to-back Grand Slam winning sides of 1991 and 1992 and was also in the team that won the Grand Slam in 1995. He also played in the 1991 World Cup Final against Australia, which England lost by 12-6, and throughout the 1995 and 1999 World Cup tournaments.

Jason then won his 95th cap for England when he replaced Graham Rowntree in this years Six Nations Championship game against Ireland at Twickenham (16th February 2002). With five caps for the British and Irish Lions also to his name, it was Leonard's 100th appearance in test match rugby. Leonard won two Lions cap on the tour to New Zealand in 1993, one in South Africa in 1997 and one in Australia last summer.

Jason has just completed his 12th season with NEC Harlequins and last summer he signed a new three-year contract that will keep him at the club until 2004. He made his debut for Quins back on the 1st September 1990 against Belgium in a pre-season friendly. In his first season at the club, Jason was part of the team that won the 1990/91 Pilkington Cup, defeating Northampton in the final 25-13.

Jason was club captain for two years between 1995 and 1997, which saw Quins finish third in the league in consecutive seasons that resulted in qualification for the Heineken Cup on both occasions. He played his 200th game for Quins in the 11-6 victory over Northampton in the Tetley's Bitter Cup quarterfinal at the Stoop on the 9th December 2000. Jason was also part of the team that defeated Narbonne (42-33) in the European Shield Final back on the 20th May last year.

Jason's career is remarkable given that he had a career threatening neck injury back in 1992. The injury was rectified thanks to an operation that involved having a piece of his hip fused into his neck.

Jason will be appearing as a studio guest on Sky Sports this Saturday (22nd June 2002) for their coverage of the test match between Australia and France (kick-off 10.05 am).