Conor O'Shea

Conor O'Shea
Full name Conor Michael Patrick O'Shea
Date of birth 21 October 1970
Place of birth Limerick, Republic of Ireland
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 100 kilograms (16 st)
School Terenure College
University University College Dublin
Rugby union career
Current status
Position(s) Director of Rugby
current team Harlequins
Playing career
Position Fullback
Amateur clubs
Years Club / team
Lansdowne
Professional / senior clubs
Years Club / team Caps (points)

1995-2000		 Leinster
London Irish
127
(412)
National team(s)
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1993-2000 Ireland 35 (44)
Coaching career
Years Club / team
2000-2005
2010–		 London Irish
Harlequins

Conor O'Shea (Irish: Conchúir Ó Sé) (born 21 October 1970, County Limerick)[1] is a former rugby union player who played at full back and occasionally at out-half and centre for Ireland, Lansdowne and London Irish. He is Director of Rugby at Harlequins.

Early life and education

O'Shea went to Terenure College in Dublin, which is one of the main rugby nurseries in Ireland. He was coached by the respected John McClean. He attended University College Dublin where he began his representative career. O'Shea received his Master's of Sports Science degree in Sports Management in 1996 from the United States Sports Academy, known around the world as America's Sports University. His father, Jerome, was a famous Gaelic football player in the 1950s and won All-Ireland Championship medals with Kerry in 1953, 1955 and 1959.

Rugby career

O'Shea won the inter-provincial championship in Ireland with Leinster and the Leinster Senior Cup with Lansdowne.

An ankle injury sustained while playing for London Irish against Gloucester in November 2000 curtailed a very promising career which included 35 international caps for Ireland scoring 44 points, including six tries.

O'Shea served London Irish as player, captain, Director of Rugby and finally managing director. He joined London Irish in 1995 and made 127 first team appearances for the club scoring 412 points including 62 tries.

In 1999 he was awarded the Zurich Players’ Player of the Season Award. He then won the Zurich Rugby Director of the Season Award (jointly with Brendan Venter in 2002 after London Irish won the Powergen Cup against Northampton Saints.

O'Shea left London Irish in 2005 to take up an appointment with the Rugby Football Union as Director of Regional Academies. His job was to oversee the network of 14 England regional academies and lead the selection and monitoring of players capable of developing into future England internationals. In 2008 he left his position with the RFU to take up a role with the English Institute of Sport as National Director.[2]

In 2007 O'Shea was called upon by the RFU to give a talk to the England squad before playing Ireland for the first time at Croke Park to acquaint the players with the sporting and political history of the ground.

O'Shea also works as a television analyst on RTÉ in Ireland.

On 16 December 2009, Harlequins announced that O'Shea would become their new Director of Rugby.[3] He started his new position on 15 March 2010.[4]

Honours

London Irish
Harlequins

References

  1. ↑ Conor O'Shea player profile Scrum.com statistics
  2. ↑ Conor O'Shea named as new EIS national director UK Sport – 19 March 2008
  3. ↑ Butler, Sarah (16 December 2009). "Harlequins announce new Director of Rugby". quins.co.uk. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  4. ↑ Butler, Sarah (9 March 2010). "Conor O'Shea start date". quins.co.uk. Retrieved 28 March 2010.

External links