Patrick Kelly (born 18 October 1995) is a Scotland 7s 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 it ...

player who plays for

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

. He previously played for London Scottish. Kelly plays at

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 ...

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Kelly was at

Millburn Academy Millburn Academy ( Gaelic: ''Acadamaidh Allt a' Mhuilinn'') is a six-year secondary school in Inverness, Scotland. It serves the portion of Inverness east of the River Ness along with rural areas to the south of the city's reach, with a catc ...

in Inverness before winning a scholarship to

Merchiston Castle School Merchiston Castle School is an independent boarding school for boys in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has around 470 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 7 and 18 as either boarding or day pupils; it was modelled ...

in Edinburgh at the age of 15. He captained Merchiston to the Brewin Dolphin Scottish Schools Cup final in 2012. He played amateur rugby with

Highland RFC Highland Rugby Football Club is a rugby union amateur club from the city of Inverness that compete in the . They have a number of teams taken from different age groups including micros and minis, S1 and S2, Under-15, Under-16, Under-18 and senio ...

. When starting studying with

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

he moved on to play with French club Pays d'Aix Rugby Club, now Provence Rugby, in a gap year. Kelly moved to play for

Glasgow Hawks Glasgow Hawks is an amateur rugby union team in Glasgow, Scotland. They were Premiership Division One champions for three consecutive seasons from 2003–04 to 2005–06. History In Paris on 27 August 1995 a meeting of the International Rugby ...

and played for them at the start of 2016. He later won a place to be coached in New Zealand in the summer of 2016 winning the

John Macphail Scholarship The John Macphail Scholarship is an annual rugby union scholarship award in Scotland. It was first given to talented young players; and was later the scholarship also extended to coaches seeking development. The scholarship is named after the for ...

. He also started with the Hawks in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

for season 2016-17, and again for the 2017-18 season. Kelly was drafted to

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...

for the 2018-19 season.

Professional career

In 2015-16 he won a place in the Glasgow and West of Scotland branch of the

Scottish Rugby Academy The Scottish Rugby Academy, for sponsorship reasons the Fosroc Scottish Rugby Academy, is a national academy structure designed to give Scotland's young rugby stars a pathway into the professional game. The academy structure is based on 4 regiona ...

as a Stage 3 (assigned to a professional club) player – Kelly was assigned to

. He made his debut for Warriors against Canada A on 30 August 2016, scoring a try in a 63 – 0 win. He was then loaned to London Scottish. He made his debut for the Exiles on 17 September 2016 against

Rotherham Titans Rotherham Rugby Union Football Club, or Rotherham Titans is a professional rugby union team from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, currently playing in the fourth tier of the English rugby union league system, following their relegation from the Nat ...

, scoring a try in the 31-30 win for Scottish in the 2016–17 RFU Championship. He made his competitive debut for Glasgow Warriors in the

Pro12 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 ...

against the Ospreys on 25 November 2016. Kelly graduated from the Scottish Rugby Academy by signing a professional contract with the Warriors for the 2017-18 season. Kelly was paired with

Sam Johnson Samuel Robert Johnson (October 11, 1930May 27, 2020) was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for in Congress from 1991 to 2019. He was a member of the Republican Party. In October and November 2015, he was the acting ...

in the centre for the Warriors in their opening match of the 2017-18 season - against

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", ...

Bridgehaugh Park Bridgehaugh Park is a rugby union ground in Stirling, Scotland, with a capacity of approximately 4,000. It is the home of Stirling County RFC, who currently play in the Scottish Premiership. Location It is situated in a meander of the River ...

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

on 19 August 2017. He made his first appearance of the 2018-19 season for the Warriors in their 50 -17 defeat of Harlequins at

North Inch North Inch is a large public park in Perth, Scotland. About 54 hectares in size, it is one of two "Inches" in Perth, the other being the smaller, 31-hectare South Inch, located half a mile across the city. The inches were granted to the city, w ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

in a preseason friendly on 18 August 2018.

International career

He was capped internationally by Scotland U20. Capped for Scotland 7s, he scored his first try in the World Sevens Series on 25 January 2020. He competed at the

2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the eighth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens organised by World Rugby. The 2022 tournament, comprising 24 men's and 16 women's teams as previously, was played over three days in one venue in September. ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

References

External links

Scrum magazine ProfileThe Scotsman profile on John MacPhail ScholarshipRugby World magazine Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Paddy 1995 births Living people Scottish rugby union players Glasgow Warriors players Rugby union players from Inverness Provence Rugby players Highland RFC players Glasgow Hawks players London Scottish F.C. players Ayr RFC players Scotland international rugby sevens players Rugby union centres Rugby union wings Scottish expatriate rugby union players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate rugby union players in France People educated at Millburn Academy People educated at Merchiston Castle School Rugby sevens players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games