Billy Dardis (born 31 January 1995) is an Irish

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He is the captain of the

Ireland national rugby sevens team The Ireland national rugby sevens team competes in several international rugby sevens competitions. The team is governed by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU). Ireland competes as a "core team" on the World Rugby Sevens Series, a competiti ...

, and also plays for UCD in Division 1A of the All Ireland League.

Youth

In his youth, Dardis played rugby with Naas RFC. In secondary school, Dardis initially played for Newbridge College in Kildare, where he also played Gaelic football. Dardis switched to Terenure College, where he focused on rugby, and he played with Terenure in the Leinster Schools Senior Cup. Dardis also featured for Leinster at both u-18 and u-19 youth levels.

Club

Dardis entered the Leinster academy in 2013. Dardis also played for UCD. After three years in the Leinster academy, he was awarded his first fully professional contract ahead of the 2016–17 season. After making no appearances for the province, however, Dardis left at the end of the 2016–17 season with Leinster not offering a new contract.

International

Dardis formerly played for the Ireland national under-20 rugby union team. He was on the under-20 squad in 2014 and in 2015, playing in the World Rugby under-20 Championship. He also impressed at the under-20 Six Nations with his footwork and pace. Dardis currently plays scrum-half for the

. He was on the squad in 2016 that unsuccessfully attempted to qualify for the 2016 Olympics. He was the captain of the team for the Rugby Europe

2017 Sevens Grand Prix Series The 2017 Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix served as a European qualifier not only for the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens qualifier tournament, but for two bids among the teams not already qualified for the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens. Schedule Standing ...

, which served as a qualifying tournament for the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens and the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens. Dardis captained the team at the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens. He led Ireland to a ninth-placed finish, the highest finish for any non core World Series team. Dardis finished the tournament with 32 points, ranked second among all players. Dardis also captained the team at the 2019 Hong Kong Sevens qualifier, where Ireland won the tournament to qualify to play as a “core team” on the 2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series. Dardis captained the

that qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics. He competed for Ireland national rugby sevens team, Ireland at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dardis, Billy 1995 births Living people Rugby union players from County Dublin Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby sevens players Leinster Rugby players University College Dublin R.F.C. players Olympic rugby sevens players of Ireland Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics