Eric O'Sullivan (born 30 November 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 who plays loosehead prop 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 ...

and

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

side

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

and internationally for

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 ...

. Born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, O'Sullivan attended

Templeogue College Templeogue College C.S.Sp is a boys' voluntary secondary school in the suburb of Templeogue, Dublin in Ireland. History and statistics It was founded in 1966 and is run by the Holy Ghost Fathers, a Roman Catholic religious institute. The scho ...

and

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

, where he completed a business studies course. He played in the back row at school, and converted to the front row at Trinity.Jonathan Bradley
"How Eric O'Sullivan went from Leinster rejection to his first Ireland cap as Ulster loosehead's rugby rise continue"
''Belfast Telegraph'', 5 December 2020 O'Sullivan represented his native

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 ...

at under-17, under-18, under-19 and under-20 level, but missed out on a place in Leinster's academy. Strong performances for

Dublin University The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...

in the All-Ireland League caught the attention of Ulster and, after an appearance for Ulster's 'A' side in early 2017, He joined the Ulster academy. He made his senior debut for Ulster off the bench in their 15–13 win against Welsh side

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

in the opening round of the

2018–19 Pro14 The 2018–19 Pro14 (also known as the '' Guinness Pro14'' for sponsorship reasons) is the eighteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the second season to be referred to as the ''Pr ...

on 1 September 2018, and made his first start for the province in their 39–39 draw against South African side

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

on 21 September 2018. He made 26 appearances, including 16 starts, and made 251 tackles, while still an academy player, in 2018–19, and was named Young Player of the Year in the 2019 Ulster Rugby Awards. He signed his first senior contract with Ulster in February 2019. He made 18 appearances, including 10 starts, in 2019–20. He made 21 appearances, including 16 starts, and 155 tackles, in

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

. He made his 50th appearance for Ulster in November 2020. He made his debut for Ireland against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in the

Autumn Nations Cup The Autumn Nations Cup was a rugby union competition held in November and December 2020 in place of the usual Autumn internationals series typically held in the same period each year, as many teams were avoiding extended travel due to the COVID- ...

on 5 December 2020, replacing

Cian Healy Cian Healy (born 7 October 1987) is an Irish rugby union rugby player. He plays for Leinster, and has also won over 100 caps for the Ireland national team. He was named as part of the Lions squad for the 2013 British & Irish Lions tour to Austra ...

. At the end of the season he was named in the

2020–21 Pro14 The 2020–21 PRO14 (also known as the ''Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the twentieth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the fourth season to be referred to as the ''PRO ...

Dream Team. In the 2021–22 season, he has made 17 appearances, including 7 starts. He was appointed scrum coach of Ulster Women in July 2023.Jonathan Bradley
"I’m excited by potential of Ulster Women’s side, says province’s new coach Murray Houston"
''Belfast Telegraph'', 18 July 2023

References

External links

Ulster Rugby profileUnited Rugby Championship profile
*
Ireland profileBanbridge RFC Profile
1995 births Living people Rugby union players from Dublin (city) Irish rugby union players Dublin University Football Club players Ulster Rugby players Rugby union props Ireland international rugby union players People educated at Templeogue College Alumni of Trinity College Dublin {{Ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub