Tom Court (born 6 November 1980) is an Australian-born former

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 ...

footballer. He most recently played for

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

as a loosehead prop. He primarily played at tighthead in his early career at

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 ...

but switched to loosehead in the 2007/2008 season when

BJ Botha Brendon James Botha, better known as BJ Botha (born 4 January 1980) is a South African former rugby union player. He played as a prop. Professional career Sharks Botha played in the Currie Cup and Super 14 the Sharks. He played in all 13 Sup ...

arrived at Ulster.

Early life

Court was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and began his sporting career as a

shotputter The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

. He was Australian University Champion for three years running and had Olympic trials in 2002. He started playing rugby in 2004 and has represented

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competition ...

and Manawatu as well as Ulster. In an interview with the Ulster Rugby Website, Court intimated that he had begun playing rugby in order to lose weight.

Ulster and Ireland

Court represented the Ireland A side at the 2006

Churchill Cup The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams (originally one and later three) from a wide arr ...

only 16 months after first playing rugby union, before he had played his first game for Ulster. He qualifies to play international rugby for

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 ...

through his mother - his grandfather, Patrick Carey, was born in

County Limerick "Remember Limerick" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Munster , subdivision ...

. He was also named in the 2008 Churchill Cup squad and appeared as a substitute in all three games; against

USA 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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

and a representative Argentina XV. He made his full Ireland debut in an uncapped match against The Barbarians at

Kingsholm Stadium Kingsholm Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the Kingsholm area of Gloucester, England, and is the home stadium of Gloucester Rugby. The stadium has a capacity of 16,115. It is sometimes nicknamed 'Castle Grim', after the estate where ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

. Court was named as a replacement for all Ireland's matches of the 2009 RBS 6 Nations and earned his first cap as a replacement for

Marcus Horan Marcus Horan (born 7 September 1977) is a retired Irish rugby union player who played prop for Munster and Ireland. Early life Horan was educated at Scoil Seanain Naofa (Clonlara National School), St. Munchin's College and Limerick Institute ...

during Ireland's 38–9 victory over Italy on 15 February 2009. Court was named as part of Ireland's Rugby World Cup Squad in 2011, and played in the Irish 15-6 victory over Australia (17 Sep 2011), coming on as a substitute against the country of his birth. Tom Court made another appearance as a substitute, coming on in Ireland's final game of the

2012 Six Nations The 2012 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2012 RBS 6 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 13th series of the Six Nations Championship. The annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship was ...

against England. On 23 June 2013, Court was called up by the

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 ...

for their tour of Australia to act as cover for Alex Corbisiero. On 27 January 2014, it was announced that Tom Court has been signed by

on a 3-year contract with the club, joining from the start of the 2014/15 Season.

References

External links

*
IRFU profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Court, Tom 1980 births Australian rugby union players Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C. players Ireland international rugby union players Irish rugby union players Living people Ulster Rugby players Ireland Wolfhounds international rugby union players London Irish players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Rugby union props Rugby union players from Brisbane