Jason Harris-Wright

Jason Harris-Wright
Date of birth (1988-09-19) 19 September 1988
Place of birth Dublin, Ireland
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 104 kilograms (16 st 5 lb)
School Presentation College
Blackrock College
Rugby union career
Current status
Position(s) Hooker
Current team Connacht
Playing career
Position Hooker
Amateur clubs
Years Club / team

2009–		 Greystones
Clontarf
Professional / senior clubs
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2009–2011
2011–2012
2012–		 Leinster
Bristol
Connacht		 16
11
47		 (0)
(0)
(10)
correct as of 3 November 2015.
National team(s)
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2006–2007
2008		 Ireland U19
Ireland U20		 6
10

Jason Harris-Wright (born 19 September 1988) is a professional rugby union player from Ireland. He primarily plays as a hooker. Harris-Wright currently plays for the Irish provincial team Connacht Rugby in the Pro12.

Early life

Harris-Wright grew up in Kilcoole in County Wicklow. He was a student at Presentation College in Bray and played at number 8 for the school rugby team as they reached the final of the Leinster Schools Junior Cup, only to be beaten by Blackrock College, one of the traditional powers in the schools game. In his final school year Harris-Wright moved to Blackrock himself, in the hopes of winning a Senior Cup with the school and increasing his chances of being noticed for representative teams and under-age Leinster squads. However, in a major shock, Blackrock were knocked out of the Cup by an unfancied Kilkenny College.[1] Harris-Wright played rugby at amateur level with Greystones until 2009, when he moved to Clontarf.[2]

Career

Clubs

Leinster

Harris-Wright started out his career with his native province of Leinster. He came through the academy, having earned seven caps for the Leinster Schools team, and made five appearances for the province's under-20s. Harris-Wright also played for the province's second-tier side Leinster A, playing four times in the British and Irish Cup and 11 times outside it, primarily against other provincial 'A' teams.[3]

Harris-Wright was promoted to the first team ahead of the 2009–10 season when he was given his first senior contract.[4] Despite being promoted to the senior squad, he didn't make his debut for the side until 23 April 2010, when he came on as a replacement against Glasgow Warriors in the 2009–10 Celtic League.

The following season saw Harris-Wright play more regularly, due to the retirement of first choice hooker John Fogarty. New Leinster coach Joe Schmidt regularly used Harris-Wright as a replacement in the league and in Europe. Harris-Wright made his European debut for Leinster in a 2010–11 Heineken Cup pool stage game against Racing Metro on 9 December 2010. He made his first start for the team against Ospreys in the league on 28 November 2010. Harris-Wright made 11 league appearance in total for the season, with all but three of these coming from the bench.[5] Harris-Wright played in four Heineken Cup games, including the final against Northampton Saints which Leinster won, with all of these appearances coming from the bench.[6]

Harris-Wright stayed with Leinster through summer 2011, playing preseason matches with the team,[7] but the signing of Sean Cronin meant he was no longer as prominent a member of the squad. He left Leinster in November 2011, moving to English side Bristol, having made 16 appearances for Leinster.[8]

Bristol

Harris-Wright signed for English side Bristol on 8 November 2011.[8] He made 11 appearances for them throughout the season, as Bristol topped the league table in the 2011–12 RFU Championship. Despite topping their Group in Stage 2 of the competition however, Bristol were beaten by Cornish Pirates 63–53 on aggregate in the play-off semi-finals and missed out on promotion.[9]

Connacht

In May 2012, he signed for Connacht, joining them ahead of the 2012-13 season.[10] His first game for the province was against his former side Leinster on 28 September 2012. Harris-Wright came on as a replacement, as Connacht beat the Heineken cup holders 34-6.[11]

International

Internationally, Harris-Wright has played for his country at under-age level. He played 6 times for the Ireland Under-19 team before it was merged with the Under 21 side to form the Ireland Under-20's side. He then earned 10 caps for the Under-20's.

Personal life

In May 2008, while part of the Ireland under-20 squad, Harris-Wright appeared in court after being arrested in Bray on suspicion of drunk driving. Harris-Wright was injured at the time of the incident, having having damaged his cruciate ligament at Under-20 World Cup. He was also suffering from a shoulder injury.

The arresting Gardaí charged Harris-Wright with threatening and abusive behaviour and refusal to give a blood or urine sample, while Harris-Wright denied both charges, saying that he didn't drink. He also claimed that he was kicked and nearly choked during the incident. The charge of refusing to give a blood or urine sample was struck out, as the doctor who attended Harris-Wright was unavailable for cross-examination and the judge dismissed the breach of the peace charge due to a conflict of evidence.[12]

In September 2009, Harris-Wright appeared in court again, charged with assaulting a bouncer at a nightclub in Bray on 17 July 2008. Harris-Wright's barrister claimed he acted in self-defence and requested CCTV evidence. However the incident tokk place outside the nightclub and Garda cameras were not pointed in the direction of where the altercation occurred.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "The Wright stuff". Irish Independent. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "LEINSTER CLUB TRANSFERS 2009/10...". Leinster Rugby. 15 July 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2015. Harris-Wright Jason - Greystones - Clontarf
  3. ↑ "First XV: Jason Harris-Wright". Leinster Rugby. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  4. ↑ "LEINSTER 2009/10 SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT...". Leinster Rugby. 12 August 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  5. ↑ "Leinster Squad Index: Jason Harris-Wright". Pro12. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "Player Archive: Jason Harris-Wright". European Professional Club Rugby. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  7. ↑ "Blues bruised but improved". The Herald. 27 August 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  8. 1 2 "Bristol swoop for Ruki Tipuna and Jason Harris-Wright". BBC Sport. 8 November 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  9. ↑ "Bristol rankled as Championship play-offs cost them again". BBC Sport. 15 May 2012.
  10. ↑ "Connacht Sign Harris-Wright And Murphy". Irish Rugby. 17 May 2012.
  11. ↑ "Connacht Rugby 34 - 6 Leinster Rugby". RaboDirectPRO12. 28 September 2012.
  12. ↑ "Gardai ‘kicked and nearly choked me’ – rugby teen". Irish Independent. 26 May 2008. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  13. ↑ "Leinster player charged with bouncer assault". Irish Independent. 23 September 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2015.

External links


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