Cáolin Blade (born 29 April 1994) is an Irish professional

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 who plays as a scrum-half for

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

club

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

and the Ireland national team.

Early life

Blade grew up in

Monivea Monivea () is a village in County Galway, Ireland. It is located approximately 30 km from Galway City and 9 km from Athenry. It was formerly part of the kingdom of the Soghain of Connacht. Monivea is known for its forest, Monivea Cas ...

, a village in

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

. He attended Athenry Vocational School in nearby

Athenry Athenry (; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies east of Galway city. Some of the attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th century street-plan. The town is also well known by virtu ...

. In addition to rugby, Blade also played

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

and

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

at under-age level. Blade started out in rugby with local junior club Monivea, where his father played out half and brother have also played at scrum-half. He played with them until 2013, moving to All-Ireland League club Galwegians after entering Connacht's academy.

Professional career

Connacht

Having already played for the province's second tier side, the

Connacht Eagles Connacht Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Connachta) is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Conn ...

, Blade joined Connacht's academy at the start of the 2013–14 season. Blade largely featured for the Eagles throughout the year but made his debut for the senior team in the final game of the season, coming on as a replacement in 45–20 defeat to the

Ospreys The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

. In his second year, Blade featured for the senior team more regularly. He made his European debut in a 2014–15 Rugby Challenge Cup game against

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

on 25 October 2015. Blade made his first start for the senior team on 13 December 2014, playing against

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

in France. Despite head coach

Pat Lam Patrick Richard Lam (born 29 September 1968) is a rugby union coach and former player. He is currently Director of Rugby at Bristol Bears in England's Premiership Rugby. Born in New Zealand, he represented New Zealand in schools and under-21 ...

having changed the entire starting team, Connacht came from behind to win 27–29, with Blade scoring two tries, his first scores for the province. He came on as a replacement against Irish rivals

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

a week later, his only appearance in the

2014–15 Pro12 The 2014–15 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the fifth with its current four-country format. It was ...

. In total, Blade made one league appearance and five in the Challenge Cup, with all but one of these coming from the bench. In January 2015, it was announced that Blade had signed his first full contract with Connacht, a deal that sees him join the senior team ahead of the 2015–16 season and runs until summer 2017. He made his first appearance of the season on an away trip to Enisei STM, a team based in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

Ireland

Blade has represented Ireland internationally at under-age level. He played for the under-18 clubs side, and later went on to represent the under-19 team. Blade was named in the Ireland squad for the opening rounds of the

2019 Six Nations The 2019 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland ...

. In June 2021 he was called up again to the senior

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

squad for the Summer tests. Blade made his debut off the bench for the Ireland senior side, in a 71–10 victory over the United States on 10 July 2021.

Honours

; Connacht * 1×

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blade, Caolin 1994 births Living people Connacht Rugby players Irish rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves Galwegians RFC players Rugby union players from County Galway Ireland international rugby union players