Ed O'Donoghue (born 24 June 1982 in London, UK) is an 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.

Position

O'Donoghue's position of choice is as a

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

and he can also operate as a

flanker Flanker may refer to: * Flanker (perfume), a newly created perfume sharing attributes of an existing one * Flanker (rugby union), a position in rugby union (not found in rugby league) * ''Su-27 Flanker'' (video game), a 1996 computer game modelin ...

Early years

He was born in London to an Irish father and an Australian mother, he grew up in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Australia O'Donoghue attended

Marist College Rosalie Sacred Heart College, also known as Marist Brothers Rosalie, was a Catholic boys' college located in Paddington, Queensland, Paddington, an inner western suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The college had been a high school for students ...

where he was selected to play for Australian schoolboys at rugby union and volleyball, having to pass up the latter due to the requirements of the Australian Schoolboys Rugby Union team.

Rugby career

He earned a place on the Australia under 19s team to contest the Junior World Cup in Chile in 2001. Searching for top flight rugby experience he played for

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

and

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

in the

Guinness Premiership 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 u ...

. In 2006 O'Donoghue returned to Australia to take up a contract with his home state team

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team based in Brisbane 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 ...

recruited by then coach Eddie Jones. O'Donoghue played in the Australian Provincial Championship in 2006 and earned his first Super 14 start in 2007, going on to play all thirteen games in the season. O'Donoghue joined

Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won ...

at the start of the 2008/09 season after a two-year contract with Queensland Reds. He went on to represent the province 45 times in two seasons there" He signed for

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby () is one of the four professional provincial club rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Leinster Branch, one of t ...

in 2010 on a three-year contract. He was released early from his contract on compassionate grounds and signed for London Wasps on a short-term contract. He returned to Australia and took up an unpaid training position with the

for the 2013 season playing in every match in their run to the

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

finals and in the process earning himself a full-time contract with the team.

International Rugby

Ireland

Irish-qualified through his parents he made his debut for

Ireland Wolfhounds The Ireland Wolfhounds (also known as Ireland A and Ireland B) are the second national rugby union team of Ireland, behind the Ireland national team. History The Wolfounds previously competed in the Churchill Cup together with the England Sax ...

in February 2009 against Scotland A in the RDS in the 35–10 win. He was selected for the 2010 Ireland rugby union tour of New Zealand/Australia. He played two non-cap matches for Ireland against

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

and New Zealand Māori in June 2010.

References

External links

Ed O'Donoghue Reds College Player ProfileUlster Rugby ProfileIreland A Rugby ProfileLeinster Rugby Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odonoghue, Ed 1982 births Irish rugby union players Ulster Rugby players Northampton Saints players Worcester Warriors players Irish Exiles rugby union players Queensland Reds players Leinster Rugby players Wasps RFC players SU Agen Lot-et-Garonne players Rugby union locks Irish expatriate rugby union players in England Irish expatriate rugby union players in Australia Irish expatriate rugby union players in France Living people English people of Irish descent