Fionn Carr

Fionn Carr

Full name	Fionn Carr
Date of birth	(1985-12-17) 17 December 1985
Place of birth	Dublin, Ireland
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	90 kilograms (14 st)
School	Newbridge College Blackrock College
University	University College Dublin
Rugby union career
Current status
Position(s)	Wing
current team	Connacht
Playing career
Position	Wing, Fullback
Amateur clubs
Years	Club / team
	Naas RFC UCD RFC Blackrock College RFC
Provincial/State sides
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2007–2008 2008–2011 2011–2013 2013–	Leinster Connacht Leinster Connacht	1 73 36 23	(0) (170) (40) (25)
correct as of 11 May 2014.
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2004 2005 2006 2009-11	Ireland Schools Ireland U-19s Ireland U-21s Wolfhounds	2 1 10 2	(15) (0)
correct as of 2 February 2014.

Fionn Carr (born 17 December 1985) is an Irish rugby union player. Carr currently plays for Connacht, who play in the RaboDirect Pro12 competition. Carr has represented Ireland at Schools, Under 19 and Under 21 level, as well as at international 'A' level. He plays primarily as a winger but can also play at fullback.

Career

Club level

Carr started playing rugby with Naas at underage levels. At school level Carr played for Newbridge College. While at Newbridge, Carr played for the junior cup team once, and the senior cup team twice. Carr subsequently won a rugby scholarship to University College Dublin where he studied Arts. He left the UCD rugby team in his second year of college and joined Blackrock College. Carr also played once for the senior Leinster team, with that appearance coming in the 2007-08 Celtic League, starting on the wing against Glasgow Warriors.^[1]

Move to Connacht

After finishing in UCD, Carr signed for the western province of Connacht. He was the top try-scorer for Connacht during the 2008-09 Celtic League campaign, scoring 8 tries in the league. This tally put him one behind the top try-scorer Thom Evans.^[2] He also scored 3 tries for the team in 6 appearances in the 2008-09 European Challenge Cup. He ended his first stint at Connacht with 34 tries, 22 of them in the league and 12 in the Challenge Cup. This made him the province's all-time top try-scorer.^[3] He left Connacht to rejoin his native province of Leinster.^[4]

Return to Leinster

Carr joined Leinster for the start of the 2011-12 season.^[5] He made his first appearance for the team since the 2007-08 season against the Ospreys. He made his first ever appearance in the Heineken Cup on 20 November 2011, against the Glasgow Warriors. In his first season back in his native province, he played 18 times in the league, with 3 of those appearances being from the bench, scoring 5 tries.^[6] He also made 2 appearances from the bench in the 2011-12 Heineken Cup, as Leinster won the competition.^[7]

The following season, Carr played 16 times for the province, but did not play in the Heineken Cup pool stages or successful Amlin Cup campaign, with all of his appearances coming in the league. He scored only 3 tries, with those coming against Newport Gwent Dragons, Cardiff Blues and Zebre.

Fionn Carr during the 2012 Pro12 Final

It was announced early in 2013 that Carr would be rejoining his former team, Connacht.^[8] He left Leinster at the end of the 2012-13 season, having scored 8 tries in his two seasons there, all of them coming in the league.

Second stint with Connacht

Carr returned to Connacht for the 2013-14 season, having turned down the offer of a new contract with Leinster.^[9] His return debut came in the opening game of the 2013–14 Pro12 against Zebre. Carr started the game and scored a try. He played his first ever Heineken Cup game for Connacht on 11 October 2013, against Saracens in Galway.

International

Carr played for his country at various under-age levels, including Under-19 and Under-21. He has also played for Ireland's second tier international team, which is currently known as Ireland Wolfhounds and was previously Ireland A. His first appearance for Ireland A came in a 2009 Churchill Cup against Canada.^[10] He also started against the England Saxons on 31 January 2010, in a 17-13 loss.^[11]

In 2010, the Irish Times referred to Carr as "Perhaps the fastest winger in the country one of Ireland’s outstanding performers against England Saxons this season".^[12] Despite his strong try-scoring record while with the province, Carr did not receive a full international cap during his first stint at Connacht. During the following two seasons at Leinster, his loss of game time and lower try-scoring made an international call up less likely.

References

External links

• Connacht profile