Nick Timoney (born 1 August 1995) is an Irish rugby union 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 ...

and

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 is regarded as a "hybrid" player, an athletic forward with the pace of a back."Ulster's athletic 'hybrid' Timoney earns Ireland shot with determined progress"
The42, 29 June 2021 He was named in the

2021–22 United Rugby Championship The 2021–22 United Rugby Championship was the twenty-first season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the first season that the competition is referred to as the United Rugby Championship, ...

Dream Team. In his youth, Timoney played number eight for

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 ...

in Dublin, helping his team win the 2013

Leinster Schools Senior Cup The Leinster Schools Senior Challenge Cup is the premier rugby union competition for secondary schools affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the IRFU. First held in 1887, the competition celebrated its 120th anniversary in 2007. Attendances are h ...

, and captaining his school during the successful 2014 season."Leinster underage product Timoney heads north to join Ulster"
The42, 28 July 2015. He then played for St Mary's RFC in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. He played 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 ...

's age-grade teams up to under-20 level, and won eight caps for the Ireland under-20s, appearing in all three back row positions in the 2015 under-20 Six Nations and the

2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the eighth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised for the second time in Italy by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations played i ...

, but was not offered a place in the Leinster academy. He turned down an offer from Pau in the French

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

, and joined Ulster's academy on a two-year contract ahead of the 2015–16 season. He made his first senior start towards the end of the 2016–17 season, with director of rugby

Les Kiss Les Kiss (born 9 December 1964) is an Australian professional rugby union coach who is the head coach of London Irish in the Gallagher Premiership. He is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the Brisbane Rugby League and ...

remarking that he had had a "very good year". He played as a forward for the

Ireland national rugby sevens team The Ireland national rugby sevens team competes in several international rugby sevens competitions. The team is governed by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU). Ireland competes as a "core team" on the World Rugby Sevens Series, a competiti ...

that played in the

2017 Sevens Grand Prix Series The 2017 Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix served as a European qualifier not only for the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens qualifier tournament, but for two bids among the teams not already qualified for the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens. Schedule Standing ...

and took first place in the

2017 Moscow Sevens The 2017 Moscow Sevens was the opening tournament of the 2017 Rugby Europe Grand Prix Series, hosted by Oktyabr Stadium at Moscow. It was held over the weekend of 3–4 June 2017. Ireland won the tournament, defeating Spain 12–0 in the final. ...

. He made 20 appearances for Ulster in the 2017–18 season, scoring five tries and making 222 tackles, and was named Young Player of the Year and Academy Player of the Year in the Ulster Rugby Awards. He was awarded his first senior contract in February 2018. In the 2018–19 season he made 27 appearances, and was the team's leading tackler with 303. In the 2020–21 season he made 17 appearances, making 212 tackles and 13 turnovers. After

Marcell Coetzee Marcell Cornelius Coetzee (born 8 May 1991) is a South African rugby football, rugby union player who plays for South African side the Blue Bulls. He plays as a Flanker (rugby union), flanker. South Africa Coetzee made his debut in Super Rugb ...

's departure in March, he became the team's regular number eight, and was named Rugby Writers' Player of the Year in the Ulster Rugby Awards. In June 2021 he was called up to the senior

squad for the Summer tests, and scored a try in his debut in a 71–10 victory over the United States on 10 July. In the 2021–22 season, with the arrival of South African number eight

Duane Vermeulen Daniel Johannes "Duane" Vermeulen (born 3 July 1986) is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for the South Africa national rugby union team, South Africa national team and Ulster Rugby in the United Rugby Champion ...

, he has primarily played at openside flanker. He captained Ulster for the first time on 20 February 2022 in an away win 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 ...

, and made his 100th appearance for the province in the second leg of the Champions Cup round of 16 tie against

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

in April the same year. He led 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 ...

in tackles with 274, 64 ahead of Ulster teammate Alan O'Connor in second place. He also led the

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 ...

in tackles at the end of the pool stage with 78, and was nominated for Ulster's men's player of the year award. He was called up to the Ireland squad for their 2022 tour of New Zealand.Gerry Thornley
"Ireland name their 40-man squad for tour of New Zealand"
''The Irish Times'', 14 June 2022

References

External links

United Rugby Championship profile
*
Ireland profile"Nick Timoney: Power Athlete"
FNJ Rugby, YouTube, 22 October 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Timoney, Nick 1995 births Living people Irish rugby union players Ulster Rugby players Ireland international rugby sevens players St Mary's College RFC players People educated at Blackrock College Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Dublin (city) Ireland international rugby union players