Will Connors (born 4 April 1996) is an 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

Pro14 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 ...

and

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 ...

side

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 ...

, and for the

Ireland national rugby union team The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Champi ...

. He plays in the back-row, primarily as an flanker.

Early life

Connors was born in

Donadea Donadea ( ga, Domhnach Dheá) is a civil parish in the barony of Ikeathy and Oughterany in the north of County Kildare, Ireland. There are seven townlands in the parish. There are no large centres of population in the parish. Donadea is noted f ...

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...

and attended

Clongowes Wood College Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Yo ...

, where he played on the school's

Leinster Schools Rugby 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 ...

side. He had previously played for many years with North Kildare RFC minis and is now club ambassador for the North Kildare RFC Skylarks additional needs team.

Leinster

Connors spent a year in the

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Laighean) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby ...

sub-academy after leaving school in 2015, before entering the academy in Summer 2016. He impressed in making his senior debut in the 2017–18 season and was promoted to the senior squad ahead of the 2018–19 season (after completing two of the usual three academy years). Connors performances earned him a spot on the 2019–20 Pro14 Dream Team.

Ireland

Connors played for Ireland Under-20s in 2016. He has also featured for the Ireland 7s team. Connors debuted for the

on 24 October 2020 in a Six Nations fixture against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, where he scored a try and had a team-high 20 tackles, earning the man-of-the-match honor for his performance.Ireland v Italy
Six Nations Rugby. Accessed 24 October 2020. In the

2021 Six Nations The 2021 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, ...

Connors scored another two tries against Italy.

References

External links

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Leinster ProfilePro14 Profile
1996 births Living people People educated at Clongowes Wood College Rugby union players from County Kildare Irish rugby union players University College Dublin R.F.C. players Leinster Rugby players Rugby union flankers Ireland international rugby union players {{Ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub