Niall Scannell (born 8 April 1992) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

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 for

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 ...

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 plays as a hooker and represents

Dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

in the All-Ireland League.

Munster

Scannell secured a development contract with the senior Munster for the 2013–14 season in April 2013. He made his senior Munster debut on 21 December 2013, coming on as a replacement 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 ...

in the

. Scannell made his first start for Munster on 27 December 2013, against

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

. He signed a one-year development contract extension in March 2014. In March 2015, Scannell signed a two-year contract with Munster. Scannell made his European debut on 12 December 2015, starting against

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

. Scannell signed a contract extension with Munster in January 2017. On 25 April 2017, it was announced that Scannell had been nominated by his teammates for the 2017 Munster Rugby Senior Player of the Year, alongside John Ryan and

Tyler Bleyendaal Tyler Bleyendaal (born 31 May 1990) is a New Zealand former rugby union player and current coach. Primarily a fly-half who could also play at centre, Bleyendaal played for Canterbury, and Munster during his playing career, before he was forced ...

. He signed a two-year contract extension with Munster in December 2018. Scannell earned his 100th cap for the province in their 39–22 defeat away to French club

Racing 92 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 to ...

in round 5 of the 2019–20 Champions Cup on 12 January 2020, and he captained Munster for the first time in their

2019–20 Pro14 The 2019–20 PRO14 (also known as the ''Guinness Brewery, Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the nineteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Pro14, Celtic League. It was the third season to be ...

round 12 fixture away to Italian side

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 ...

on 21 February 2020, though Scannell left the field injured during the first-half of Munster's 28–0 win. A back injury Scannell sustained during training in October 2020 required surgery, ruling him out for two months. He signed a two-year contract extension with the province in February 2021. Scannell featured off the bench in Munster's historic 28–14 win against a South Africa XV in

Páirc Uí Chaoimh Páirc Uí Chaoimh ( ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Cork (city), Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the home of Cork GAA. The venue, often referred to simply as The Park, is located in Ballintemple, Cork, Ballintemple and is built near to ...

on 10 November 2022, and earned his 150th cap for Munster in their 17–6 away win against English club

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", ...

in round two of the 2022–23 Champions Cup on 18 December 2022. He signed a two-year contract extension with the province in January 2023.

Ireland

Scannell won a total of eight caps for the Ireland Under-20 team, playing in the 2012 Under-20 Six Nations Championship and captaining the team at the

2012 IRB Junior World Championship The 2012 IRB Junior World Championship was the fifth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. This competition replaced the now defunct Under 19 and Under 21 world championships. The event was organised in South A ...

. On 23 January 2017, Scannell was named in the Ireland squad for the opening two rounds of the

2017 Six Nations Championship The 2017 Six Nations Championship was the 18th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. The tournament was also known as the RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by NatWest ...

. On 11 February 2017, Scannell made his debut for Ireland when, due to captain

Rory Best Rory David Best (born 15 August 1982) is an Irish former rugby union player from Northern Ireland and was the captain of the Ireland national team from 2016 to 2019. He played hooker for Ulster and was registered for Banbridge RFC, having pr ...

's illness, he started against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in the Six Nations. Scannell was also selected in the squad for the 2017 Summer Tour against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. On 10 June 2017, in the one-off test against the

, Scannell scored his first try for Ireland, doing so in the 55–19 win in the Red Bull Arena,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. When Scannell's brother

Rory Rory is a given name of Goidelic languages, Gaelic origin. It is an anglicisation of the ga, Ruairí/''Ruaidhrí'' and gd, Ruairidh and is common to the Irish people, Irish, Scottish people, Highland Scots and their diasporas. for the given n ...

came on in the test as a replacement, they became the first Munster siblings to represent Ireland in the professional era. Having been called-up to replace captain

in Ireland's squad to tour Australia, Scannell went on to start in the second and third tests in Ireland's historic series victory. Scannell was selected in the 31-man Ireland squad for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

, having featured in the warm-up matches against

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. During the World Cup itself, Scannell featured off the bench in Ireland's opening 27–3 win against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and started in the 35–0 win against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, before again featuring off the bench in Ireland's 47–5 win against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

in their final pool game, and in the comprehensive 46–14 defeat against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in the quarter-finals, which brought an end to Ireland's 2019 World Cup. Having been absent from new head coach Andy Farrell's squads since he took over post-2019 World Cup, Scannell was called up to the Ireland squad for the 2022 tour of New Zealand as injury cover for

Rob Herring Rob Herring is an English former professional motocross racer and current film industry stuntman. Herring began his racing career in South Africa after his father emigrated there from the United Kingdom. He returned to the U.K. at the age of 17 a ...

. Scannell had been on holiday when he received his call up, and three days later came off the bench in Ireland's uncapped match against the

Māori All Blacks The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing i ...

on 29 June, which the Māori won 32–17. Scannell also started in the second uncapped match against the Māori All Blacks on 12 July, which Ireland won 30–24 to draw the series 1–1.

Statistics

International analysis by opposition

Correct as of 19 October 2019Niall Scannell
''ESPN Scrum'', 3 October 2019

References

External links

*
Munster ProfileIreland ProfileURC Profile
*
U20 Six Nations Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scannell, Niall Living people 1992 births People educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork Rugby union players from County Cork Irish rugby union players Dolphin RFC players Munster Rugby players Munster Rugby captains Ireland international rugby union players Rugby union hookers