Nick De Luca (born 1 February 1984 in
Dumfries,
south west
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
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 ...
) is a retired, former Scottish international professional
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.
Early years
De Luca was born in
Dumfries and grew up in
Lockerbie
Lockerbie (, gd, Locarbaidh) is a small town in Dumfries and Galloway, south-western Scotland. It is about from Glasgow, and from the border with England. The United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census recorded its population as 4,009. The town ...
.
Club rugby
De Luca's position of choice is as a
Centre
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
* Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...
. He can also operate at
Full back and
Wing
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...
. In his early career he caught the eye with his notable 'outside breaks', opening up defences and creating chances. His creative play has been noted for deceptive strength, slick handling
and quick foot work.
At club level De Luca began as an apprentice with
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
in 2005 before joining
Border Reivers for the 2006–07 season. Following the region's dissolution in 2007 he returned to Edinburgh.
[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 ...]
to touch down, and he also contributed a spellbinding effort during the dramatic win at
later on that year.
tournaments in Canada and England respectively.
internationalist, De Luca is the joint all-time leading try scorer for the Scotland under-21 team. He shares this honour with
.
Having already represented Scotland at all age-grade levels as well as 'A' level,
.
. De Luca held on to his position for the following game against
.
He had a difficult introduction to international rugby as he struggled throughout the 2008 RBS 6 Nations as part of an under-used and ineffective Scottish backline from which he has done well to recover.