John Francis Dempsey (born 12 April 1994) is a 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 it ...

player who plays as a number eight 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

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

. Born in Australia, he represents

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

at international level after qualifying on ancestry grounds.

Club career

Dempsey played for

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

. He helped the club win the 2020 Shute Shield. Dempsey played domestically in Australia for the who compete in the

National Rugby Championship The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following t ...

. He was then called up by the . Dempsey moved to Scotland in 2021 to play for

. He has relatives in the city, as his grandfather emigrated to Glasgow from Australia. Of the move to the Warriors, Dempsey stated:

The history that Glasgow has with fast-paced footie – with quick ruck speed – is something which very much suits my game. So, it is kind of a combination of wanting a character like me to add depth and being that tool in the tool chest within the back-row, but also I do suit the identity and style that Glasgow want to play as well.

Dempsey made his debut for Glasgow in the 'Clash of the Warriors' pre-season fixture with Worcester, with Glasgow winning the inaugural cup 27 - 22. He made his competitive debut for Glasgow in the 24 September 2021 match against

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 Kin ...

away at

Ravenhill Stadium Ravenhill Stadium (known as the Kingspan Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a rugby stadium located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home of Ulster Rugby. With the opening of a new stand for the 2014 Heineken Cup quarter-final against ...

in the

- earning the Glasgow Warrior No. 331. At the end of a successful season Dempsey was awarded The XVIth Warrior Player of the Year award by the official supporters club.

International career

Dempsey represented Australia at schoolboy and under-20 level. He was capped for against , coming off the bench at Lang Park in Brisbane on 24 June 2017. Dempsey was a member of the Wallabies

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

squad which were knocked out in the quarter-finals in Japan, but did not play for Australia after that. After a three-year stand-down period from international rugby, Dempsey made his debut for Scotland on 29th October 2022 against Australia, the country he previously played for.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dempsey, Jack 1994 births Living people Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights New South Wales Waratahs players Sydney (NRC team) players Rugby union players from Sydney People educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview Glasgow Warriors players Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Australian people of Scottish descent