Anthony Charles 'Budge' Pountney (born 13 November 1973) is a rugby union coach and retired player. A flanker, he played in the Northampton Saints side that won the 1999–2000 Heineken Cup.

Pountney was born in Southampton in England, but had a grandmother from the Channel Islands which made him eligible for any of the British national teams. He won 31 caps for Scotland from 1998 to 2002. He was part of the Scotland team that won the 1999 Five Nations Championship, played in the 1999 World Cup, and later captained the team.

After retiring, he was head coach and later director of rugby at Northampton. He later worked in club and school coaching. He is now the development director for Ulster Rugby.

Pountney was born in Southampton, the son of a farm manager.^[1] He attended Weeke Primary School, Kings' School and Peter Symonds College in Winchester. He studied at Bedford College and gained a BA Honours in European Studies and Sports Studies.^[2] He was eligible to play rugby for Scotland by virtue of a grandmother born in the Channel Islands; as a dependency of the Crown outside of the United Kingdom, people from the Islands are eligible to represent whichever of the Home Nations they choose.^[3]

He began playing rugby for the Winchester RFC mini rugby sides.

Late in 2004 he became head coach of Northampton Saints, together with former England fly-half and teammate Paul Grayson.^[16] In July 2005 he became Director of Rugby.

After retiring from top class rugby, he has worked as an independent citing officer, reviewing English Rugby Premiership matches.^[17] In the summer of 2013 he became Director of Rugby at Bournemouth RFC who were playing in National Division 2 South.^[18] The club announced that he was to leave at the end of the 2014 season, citing a change in personal circumstances.^[19]

He then worked as Head of Rugby at Marlborough College and moved to Regent House School in Newtownards in 2017. In 2021 he became development director for Ulster Rugby.^[20]