Jack Kelly (born 26 October 1997) 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 is currently a member of the

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 ...

academy and plays for 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 ...

Early life

Kelly lived in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

for two years during his childhood, also playing rugby, and speaks fluent French. Kelly attended secondary school at St. Michael's College in Dublin. Despite playing in several strong school teams with fellow future professional rugby players such as

Dan Leavy Dan Leavy (born 23 May 1994) is an Irish rugby union former player who played for Leinster Rugby. His preferred position was flanker. Playing career Leavy was enrolled in the Leinster Rugby academy. He debuted with the Leinster senior team in Oc ...

, James Ryan and others, he did not win a

Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup The Leinster Schools Senior Challenge Cup is the premier rugby union competition for secondary schools affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the IRFU. First held in 1887, the competition celebrated its 120th anniversary in 2007. Attendances are ...

medal.

Leinster

Kelly joined the

academy immediately upon leaving school in 2016. He made his senior

debut in 2018 against Ospreys. He combines his rugby career with studying law in

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

National team

Kelly was selected to captain the

Ireland national under-20 rugby union team The Ireland national under-20 rugby team was formed in 2006, having previously been known as the under-21 team. They have won the Grand Slam three times and the Six Nations Championship four times: 2007, 2010, 2019 and 2022. Current squad Head c ...

for the 2017 Six Nations, becoming the sixth consecutive Ireland under 20s captain to have attended St. Michael's College. Ireland had a mixed campaign, finishing fourth, before enduring a poor Junior World Championship in June 2017, finishing tenth of twelve teams. Kelly also plays for the

. He debuted for the team at the

2019 London Sevens The 2019 London Sevens was the penultimate event of the 2018–19 World Rugby Sevens Series and the nineteenth edition of the London Sevens. The tournament was held at Twickenham Stadium, London on 25–26 May 2019. Format Sixteen teams are drawn ...

, and also played in a 2019 European qualifying tournament for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Kelly had a breakout season during the

2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series The 2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series was the 21st annual series of rugby sevens tournaments for national men's rugby sevens teams. The Sevens Series has been run by World Rugby since 1999–2000. In March 2020, World Rugby postponed all rem ...

, Ireland's first season as a core team on the Series, where Kelly led all Irish forwards with nine clean breaks and eight tries. Kelly was a member of the

that qualified for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. He also competed 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 ...

at the

2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the eighth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens organised by World Rugby. The 2022 tournament, comprising 24 men's and 16 women's teams as previously, was played over three days in one venue in September. It ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

References

External links

Pro14 ProfileLeinster Academy Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Jack Living people 1997 births People educated at St Michael's College, Dublin Rugby union players from County Dublin Irish rugby union players Dublin University Football Club players Leinster Rugby players Olympic rugby sevens players of Ireland Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics