Michael Francis Lane (born 3 April 1926) is an Irish rugby union player who played in the wing position. Lane played club rugby with

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of ...

, represented the

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

provincial team, was capped 17 times 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 ...

, and was a member of the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

team that toured in 1950.

Early life

Lane was born in Cork, Ireland on April 3, 1926.

Rugby career

Lane made his international début for Ireland in March 1947 against Wales in the

Five Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

. Injury kept him out of the

1948 Five Nations Championship The 1948 Five Nations Championship was the nineteenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-fourth series of the northern hemisphere rugby ...

, but he played in all four of Ireland's matches during the 1949 Championship that saw them clinch the title and the Triple Crown. Lane made his only appearance for the Barbarians invitational team in April 1949 against

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

during their Easter tour. Following three more appearances for Ireland in the 1950 Five Nations Championship, Lane was included in the Lions squad that was selected to tour New Zealand and Australia in 1950. Lane played in a total of 11 matches during the tour, including a test match against both New Zealand and Australia with the other nine appearances in tour matches against local opposition. Lane made three appearances in the 1951 Five Nations that again saw Ireland win the Championship, and played twice against South Africa in December that year as part of their tour of Europe. The first was in the test match for Ireland, and the second was in a tour game representing his province of

. In the second of his two appearances in the 1952 Five Nations, Lane scored his only points for Ireland with a try against Scotland. His final appearances for Ireland came during the 1953 Five Nations. Lane was inducted into the Rugby Writers of Ireland Hall of Fame in 2011. Lane's nephew,

Michael Kiernan Michael Joseph Kiernan (born 17 January 1961) is a former international rugby union player. He had 43 caps for Ireland, from 1982 to 1991, scoring 6 tries, 40 conversions, 62 penalties and 6 drop goals, in an aggregate of 308 points. He was cal ...

, was also an Ireland and Lions international.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Mick 1926 births Living people Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players University College Cork RFC players Munster Rugby players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Barbarian F.C. players Rugby union players from Cork (city) Rugby union wings