Marcus Rea (born 8 September 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 plays in the back row for

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 ...

in the

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 ...

. He was captain at

Ballymena Academy Ballymena Academy is a mixed gender grammar school in the market town of Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1828 as a small provincial school for children in the town and surrounding agricultural hinterland. Admissi ...

, and captained the Ulster under-19 team in 2016. He joined the Ulster Academy ahead of the 2016–17 season; his older brother Matty joined the senior team on a development contract the same season. He made his senior competitive debut for

in their 14–13 win against provincial rivals

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 ...

in round 21 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 27 April 2018. Rea replaced

Sean Reidy Sean Reidy (born 10 May 1989) is a New Zealand-born Irish rugby union player who played flanker for Ulster Rugby from 2014 to 2022, and has two caps for Ireland. Born in Auckland, New Zealand,Brendan Crossan"Century man Sean Reidy ready for Dr ...

after just 15 minutes and joined his brother in the back-row, before scoring a crucial try in the 60th minute, converted by Peter Nelson, to secure victory for the Ulstermen, and winning the

Man-of-the-Match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

award. He signed a development contract ahead of the 2019–20 season, but broke his jaw playing for

Ballynahinch Ballynahinch may refer to: Northern Ireland * Ballynahinch, County Armagh, a townland *Ballynahinch, County Down, a town Republic of Ireland *Ballynahinch (barony), in County Galway *Ballynahinch, County Galway, a townland in County Galway * Bally ...

in the All-Ireland League in November 2019 and didn't make his second appearance for Ulster until October 2020. He made 7 appearances, including four starts, 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 ...

, but he established himself in the team in the 2021–22 season, in which he made 19 appearances and 15 starts, including starting in all six of Ulster's Champions Cup matches. He signed a new contract in February 2022.Paul McIntyre
"Ulster's Marcus Rea delivering on his rich promise"
''The Irish News'', 3 February 2022

References

External links

Ulster Rugby profileUnited Rugby Championship profile
* 1997 births Living people Irish rugby union players Ulster Rugby players Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from County Antrim {{Ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub