Sammy Arnold (born 8 April 1996) is an English-born, 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 for French club Brive. He plays 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 ...

Early life

Born in Redhill, Surrey, Arnold moved to Kent aged five and attended a state school until sixth form, when he earned a rugby scholarship at

Cranleigh School Cranleigh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the village of Cranleigh, Surrey. History It was opened on 29 September 1865 as a boys' school 'to provide a sound and plain education, on the principles o ...

. Harlequins had shown interest in Arnold joining their academy, but as a scrum-half rather than a centre. Arnold, who wanted to play as a centre for Ireland, instead decided to join Ulster. He qualifies for Ireland through his mother, who is from

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 N ...

– he also has a grandfather from

Bere Island Bere Island or Bear Island (, although officially called ''An tOileán Mór'' meaning "the big island") is an island in Bantry Bay off the Beara Peninsula in County Cork, Ireland. It spans roughly 10 km x 3 km, with an area of 17.68&n ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

Club career

Ulster

Arnold made his debut against

Dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

Rodney Parade Rodney Parade is a stadium in the city of Newport, South Wales, owned and operated by the Welsh Rugby Union. It is located on the east bank of the River Usk in Newport city centre. The ground is on Rodney Road, a short walk from the city's c ...

in March 2015 as an 18-year-old. At the end of the season he won the Club's Academy Player of the Year award. He made his first Champions Cup appearance against

Oyonnax Oyonnax () is the second most populated commune in the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. Oyonnax lies in a valley of the Jura Mountains in the far north of Ain. It is near the Parc naturel régional du Ha ...

in January 2016, but was forced off through injury after 23 minutes.

Munster

On 4 February 2016, it was announced that Arnold would be joining Ulster's provincial rivals, Munster, at the beginning of the 2016–17 season. Just weeks after joining Munster, Arnold damaged ligaments in his knee, which ruled him out of the opening period of the 2016–17 season. On 26 November 2016, Arnold made his competitive debut for Munster, starting alongside

Jaco Taute Jacob Johannes Taute (born 21 March 1991) is a South African retired rugby union player. He played as a fullback or centre, he won three caps for . Taute played for the and the in Super Rugby, the and in the Currie Cup, Munster in the Pr ...

in the 2016–17 Pro12 fixture against Benetton at

Thomond Park Thomond Park is a stadium in Limerick in the Irish province of Munster. The stadium is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union and has Munster Rugby, Shannon RFC and UL Bohemian RFC as tenants. Limerick FC played home games in Thomond Park fr ...

. In January 2017, Arnold was ruled out for 8 weeks with a knee injury. On 27 February 2017, Arnold resumed full training following his recovering from the knee injury. On 31 March 2017, Arnold started for

Munster A Munster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Mumhan) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union, rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Iris ...

in their 2016–17 British and Irish Cup semi-final against

Ealing Trailfinders Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club is an English professional rugby union club based in West London. The club's first team are the current champions of the RFU Championship but will remain in that league due to ineligibility for promotion to Premi ...

, scoring a try in the 25–9 win against the English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side at CIT. On 21 April 2017, Arnold started at 13 for Munster A in their 29–28 victory over English

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

side

Jersey Reds Jersey Reds is a rugby club based in Jersey, Channel Islands that currently competes at the RFU Championship, which is the second tier of English professional rugby. Until season 2022/23, the professional arm of Jersey Reds was part of Jers ...

in the final of the 2016–17 British and Irish Cup, which was held in Irish Independent Park. He scored his first tries for Munster on 3 November 2017, doing so in the 2017–18 Pro14 win against Welsh side

. Arnold made his European Rugby Champions Cup debut for Munster on 9 December 2017, starting in the

Pool 4 Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky poo ...

fixture against Leicester Tigers in

and earning the

Man-of-the-Match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

award in the provinces' 33–10 win. He was sent-off for a high tackle on

Christian Lealiifano Christian Leali'ifano (born 24 September 1987), is an Australian professional rugby player. He is of Samoan heritage, and his surname is spelled Leali'ifano when using Samoan diacritics. He currently plays for Moana Pasifika in the Super Rugb ...

in Munster's Pro14 game against

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 ...

on 1 January 2018 and subsequently banned for 3 weeks. He signed a new two-year contract with Munster in February 2018. Arnold was named the ''Munster Rugby Young Player of the Year'' in April 2018.

Connacht

Arnold joined

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 Del ...

on a two-year contract in July 2020, and made his debut for the province against his old club Munster on 30 August 2020.

Brive

Arnold moved to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

to join Brive, where former

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 ...

and

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

player Jeremy Davidson is head coach, on a three-year contract from the 2022–23 season.

International career

After achieving selection at under-18 level in May 2013, Arnold received his first call up for the Ireland under-20 side in February 2015 for a 2015 Six Nations Under 20s Championship clash with

. Arnold earned his first senior call-up in October 2018, being selected in Joe Schmidt's 42-man

squad for the 2018 Autumn Internationals. Arnold made his senior international debut for

in their 2018 Autumn Test 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 ...

on 24 November 2018, coming on as a replacement for

Will Addison William Joseph Addison (born 20 August 1992) is an English-born Irish rugby union player who plays as a utility back for Ulster in the United Rugby Championship and European Rugby Champions Cup, and internationally for Ireland. A product of ...

at half-time in Ireland's 57–14 win.

Honours

Munster A

* British and Irish Cup: **Winner (1): 2016–17

References

External links

Connacht ProfileMunster ProfileIreland ProfilePro14 Profile
*
U20 Six Nations Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Sammy 1996 births Living people People educated at Cranleigh School Rugby union players from Surrey Irish rugby union players Irish Exiles rugby union players Ulster Rugby players Munster Rugby players Garryowen Football Club players Connacht Rugby players Ireland international rugby union players CA Brive players Irish expatriate rugby union players Irish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate rugby union players in France Rugby union centres