Ivan Soroka (born 1 October 1994) is a rugby union player born in Ukraine, and who grew up in Ireland. He plays as a

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

. Soroka previously played for Irish provincial side Connacht in the Pro14. Soroka joined Connacht for the 2016–17 season, having spent the preseason on trial with the team.

Early life

Soroka was born in Kyiv. He grew up in Dublin and attended

Belvedere College Belvedere College S.J. (sometimes St Francis Xavier's College) is a voluntary secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland. The school has numerous alumni in the arts, politics, sports, science, and business. History Belvedere owes its origin ...

, playing for the school's rugby team in the Leinster Senior Schools Cup and has since coached the team. While playing for Belvedere, Soroka also played for Leinster at under-age level.

Rugby career

Amateur career

Soroka played at amateur club level for UCD, Clontarf in the All-Ireland League. He won an under 20 Interprovincial championship in 2013, Leinster Senior Cup in 2015 and an AIL title in 2016 with the team.

Connacht

Soroka trained with provincial side Connacht in the 2016–17 preseason, being part of the team's squad for a friendly with

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

. In October 2016, it was announced that he had signed a one-year contract with the side, his first professional team. On 1 April 2017, Soroka made his debut for Connacht off the bench in the loss to Zebre.

International

Soroka was born in Kyiv, but has never represented any Ukrainian side. He is qualified to play for Ireland internationally, but did not represent any Irish under-age teams. Soroka has however played for the Irish national club team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soroka, Ivan Living people 1994 births Clontarf FC players Connacht Rugby players Irish people of Ukrainian descent Rugby union props People educated at Belvedere College Irish rugby union players