Jason Harris-Wright (born 19 September 1988) is a

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 from

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 ...

. He primarily plays as a hooker. Harris-Wright last played professionally for

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

in the Greene King IPA Championship.

Early life

Harris-Wright grew up in

Kilcoole Kilcoole () is a village in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is three kilometres (2 miles) south of Greystones, 14 kilometres (9 miles) north of Wicklow, and about 28 kilometres (17 miles) south of Dublin. It was used as the set for the Irish tel ...

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

. He was a student at Presentation College in Bray and played at number 8 for the school rugby team as they reached the final of the

Leinster Schools Junior Cup The Leinster Schools Junior Challenge Cup is an under-age rugby union competition for schools affiliated to the Leinster Rugby, Leinster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union, IRFU. Background The Leinster Schools Junior Cup competition is c ...

, only to be beaten by

Blackrock College Blackrock College ( ga, Coláiste na Carraige Duibhe) is a voluntary secondary school, voluntary day school, day and boarding school, boarding Catholicism, Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, Dublin, Bl ...

, one of the traditional powers in the schools game. In his final school year Harris-Wright moved to Blackrock himself, in the hopes of winning a Senior Cup with the school and increasing his chances of being noticed for representative teams and under-age Leinster squads. However, in a major shock, Blackrock were knocked out of the Cup by an unfancied

Kilkenny College Kilkenny College is an independent Church of Ireland co-educational day and boarding secondary school located in Kilkenny, in the South-East of Ireland. It is the largest co-educational boarding school in Ireland. The school's students are mainly ...

. Harris-Wright played rugby at amateur level with

Greystones Greystones () is a coastal town and seaside resort in County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies on Ireland's east coast, south of Bray, County Wicklow, Bray and south of Dublin city centre and has a population of 18,140 (2016). The town is bordered ...

until 2009, when he moved to Clontarf.

Club career

Leinster

Harris-Wright started out his career with his native province of

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 ...

. He came through the academy, having earned seven caps for the Leinster Schools team, and made five appearances for the province's under-20s. Harris-Wright also played for the province's second-tier side

Leinster A Leinster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Laighean) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby ...

, playing four times in the

British and Irish Cup The British and Irish Cup was an annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs and the reserves or developing teams from professional clubs from Great Britain and Ireland. It took place for the first time in the 2009 ...

and 11 times outside it, primarily against other provincial 'A' teams. Harris-Wright was promoted to the first team ahead of the 2009–10 season when he was given his first senior contract. Despite being promoted to the senior squad, he didn't make his debut for the side until 23 April 2010, when he came on as a replacement against

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 ...

in the

2009–10 Celtic League The 2009–10 Celtic League (known as the 2009–10 Magners League for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of the league now known as Pro12 and the fourth with Magners as title sponsor. The season began in September 2009 and ended with the G ...

. The following season saw Harris-Wright play more regularly, due to the retirement of first choice hooker John Fogarty. New Leinster coach Joe Schmidt regularly used Harris-Wright as a replacement in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

and in Europe. Harris-Wright made his European debut for Leinster in a

2010–11 Heineken Cup pool stage The 2010–11 Heineken Cup pool stage was the first stage of the current season of the Heineken Cup, Europe's top competition for rugby union clubs. It involved 24 teams competing for eight quarter-final berths; the quarter-finalists will then p ...

game against

Racing Metro Racing 92 () is a French rugby union club based in suburban Paris that was formed in 2001 with the collaboration of the Racing Club de France and US Métro. They were called Racing Métro 92 between 2001 and 2015, when they changed the name t ...

on 9 December 2010. He made his first start for the team against Ospreys in the league on 28 November 2010. Harris-Wright made 11 league appearances in total for the season, with all but three of these coming from the bench. Harris-Wright played in four Heineken Cup games, including the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

which Leinster won, with all of these appearances coming from the bench. Harris-Wright stayed with Leinster through summer 2011, playing preseason matches with the team, but the signing of

Seán Cronin Seán Cronin (29 August 1922 – 9 March 2011) was a journalist and former Irish Army officer and twice Irish Republican Army chief of staff.Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, ''The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers Pa ...

meant he was no longer as prominent a member of the squad. He left Leinster in November 2011, moving to English side

, having made 16 appearances for Leinster.

Bristol

Harris-Wright signed for English side

on 8 November 2011. He made 11 appearances for them throughout the season, as Bristol topped the league table in the 2011–12 RFU Championship. Despite topping their Group in Stage 2 of the competition however, Bristol were beaten by

Cornish Pirates The Cornish Pirates ( kw, An Vorladron Gernewek) are a professional rugby union team who play in the Championship, the second level of the English rugby union pyramid, and are the premier Cornish rugby club. Formerly known as Penzance & Newlyn ...

63–53 on aggregate in the play-off semi-finals and missed out on promotion.

Connacht

In May 2012, he signed for Connacht, joining them ahead of the 2012–13 season. His first game for the province was against his former side Leinster on 28 September 2012. Harris-Wright came on as a replacement, as Connacht beat the Heineken cup holders 34–6. He made 14 league appearances in his debut season, all but two of these coming as starts, and scored his first try for the side in a Pro12 game against

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

on 1 December 2012. Harris-Wright also made appearances in five of Connacht's six

2012–13 Heineken Cup The 2012–13 Heineken Cup was the 18th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The tournament began with two pool matches on 12 October 2012 and ended with t ...

group stage games, starting four. In the following season, Harris-Wright continued to feature regularly, playing 18 times in the

2013–14 Pro12 The 2013–14 Pro12 (also known as the ''RaboDirect Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th season of the Pro12 rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, the fourth with its current 12-team format, and the third with Rab ...

and in all six of Connacht's group games in the

2013–14 Heineken Cup The 2013–14 Heineken Cup was the 19th and final season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The pool stage began on 11 October 2013 and ran through to 17–19 ...

. He scored a single try during the course of the season, in a Pro12 game against

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 ...

on 23 November 2013. Towards the end of the season however, Harris-Wright suffered a dislocated shoulder against

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms ...

and was ruled out for six months. Harris-Wright missed much of the 2014–15 season with a knee injury sustained against

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning "Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by the ...

in the Pro12 on 21 November 2014. He made just two appearances 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 ...

, and another two in the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

London Irish

On 4 August 2016. Harris-Wright was signed by English side

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

Bristol

On 11 April 2017, Harris-Wright resigns with

Bristol Rugby Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

ahead of the 2017–18 season.

International career

Internationally, Harris-Wright has played for his country at under-age level. He played 6 times for the Ireland under-19 team before it was merged with the under-21 side to form the Ireland under-20's side. He then earned 10 caps for the Under-20's.

References

External links

Connacht Rugby ProfileLeinster Rugby profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris-Wright, Jason Living people 1988 births Irish rugby union players Rugby union hookers Rugby union players from County Wicklow Connacht Rugby players People educated at Blackrock College People educated at Presentation College, Bray Bristol Bears players London Irish players Leinster Rugby players