Neil Richard Joseph Barrett (born 27 July 1992 in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

) 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. He is a back-row forward who can play either blind side flanker or at number 8, and has occasionally played at centre. He plays club rugby for

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 the Pro14 and

Heineken 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 ...

. Barrett, still not 20 years old, is seen as a great prospect for the future, and is a current member of the Irish national u-20 team, having also played for his country at u-18 (schools) and u-19 level. He is renowned for his ball carrying ability and strength, as well as crowd-pleasing "big hits", or impact tackles. He also represents a solid line-out option and is near the complete back-rower due to combativeness at the breakdown. He is yet to establish himself as a starter for the senior Leinster team, but has made five appearances, as well as playing regularly for both the "A" and u-20 sides. While attending Blackrock College he helped the school to win both the

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

and Junior cup. He was on the same cup-winning teams as fellow

Leinster Rugby 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 ...

academy member and Ireland u-20 teammate

Simon Hillary Simon Hillary (born 16 July 1992) is a professional rugby union player who plays as a winger for Leinster Rugby. Hillary is renowned for his speed and agility, as well as his deceptive footwork. While still at school, he was clocked at 10.6 seco ...

References

*http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/profiles/index.php *https://web.archive.org/web/20121015082010/http://www.irb.com/jwc/teams/team=3227/index.html *http://www.herald.ie/sport/rugby/u20-boss-ruddock-plays-the-blues-3006046.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Neil R. Living people Irish rugby union players 1992 births People educated at Blackrock College Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Dublin (city) Leinster Rugby players