William Joseph Addison (born 20 August 1992) is an English-born Irish

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who plays as a utility back for

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

club

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

, and has represented

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

internationally. A product of the

academy, Addison made his club debut for Sale in 2010. He was part of the

England U20 England national under-20 football team, also known as England Under-20s or England U20(s) or England Men's Elite Squad, represents England in association football at an under-20 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the gov ...

side which won the Junior Six Nations. He also featured at the 2012 Junior World Cup. He split time between his rugby career and studying for a degree in business studies, graduating in 2014. He was named the Sharks' captain ahead of the 2017-18 season, having previously captained the side in the absence of Josh Beaumont. Addison is Irish-qualified through his

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...

-born mother, and grew up supporting Ireland. His contract with Sale contained an option to leave if an Irish team approached him, and he signed for Ulster ahead of the 2018–19 season in pursuit of his ambitions to play international rugby. He had a successful start to the season, initially at fullback, later at outside centre."Making an impact at Ulster Rugby"
The Front Row Union, 23 May 2019 On 24 October 2018, he was named in the Ireland squad for the November Internationals. On 3 November 2018 he made his debut for Ireland against Italy. He sustained a back injury in January 2019 that required surgery and kept him out for fifteen months. He returned to action in April 2021, before his season was ended by a red card for a dangerous tackle against

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

in May. He started the 2021–22 season strongly, playing four games and scoring a try,Playing statistics at ItsRugby.co.uk
/ref> before sustaining a fracture of the lower leg in October which again meant undergoing surgery. He signed for Sale at the end of the 2023-24 season,Neil Treacey
"Ulster's Will Addison confirms Sale Sharks return"
RTÉ, 28 May 2024 and will be released at the end of the season.

References

External links

Ulster Rugby profileUnited Rugby Championship profile
*
Ireland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Addison, Will 1992 births Living people Alumni of the University of Manchester English people of Irish descent English rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Irish rugby union players People educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith Rugby union centres Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union players from Penrith, Cumbria Rugby union wings Sale Sharks players Ulster Rugby players