University College Dublin Rugby Football Club (also referred as UCD) is a rugby union club based in Dublin, Ireland, and plays in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. They play their home games at UCD Bowl.

The club was founded in 1910 and they won their first trophy, the Leinster Junior Challenge Cup, in 1914. In 1924 they won their first Leinster Club Senior Cup. Since 1952 they have also played an annual challenge game, the Colours Match against their rivals Dublin University. In 1993 when the AIB League was expanded to four divisions to include 46 senior clubs, UCD and four other university clubs joined the league.

In 2001 UCD won the AIB League Division 2 title, gaining promotion to Division 1. They have continued to play in the same division until the 2008–09 season when they finished second from bottom and were relegated. They were the first Irish university rugby club to play in AIB League top division and have now been joined by rivals Dublin University Football Club.

Notable players

Ireland national rugby union team In 1920 Andy Courtney became the first UCD player to represent the Ireland national rugby union team. The following UCD players also represented Ireland at full international level.

Barry Bresnihan John Cantrell Eugene Davy Mick Doyle Tony Ensor Tom Grace Harry Harbison Denis Hickie Rob Kearney Dan Leavy Fergus McFadden Luke McGrath Kevin McLaughlin Ray McLoughlin Seán O'Brien Brian O'Driscoll Kevin O'Flanagan Darragh O'Mahony Garry Ringrose Rhys Ruddock Ciaran Scally Fergus Slattery James Tracy Josh van der Flier Paddy Wallace

British & Irish Lions In 1959 Niall Brophy and Bill Mulcahy become the first UCD players to represent the British & Irish Lions. Since then several UCD players have also played for the Lions.The Ireland Rugby Miscellany (2007): Ciaran Cronin

Niall Brophy: 1959, 1962 Bill Mulcahy: 1959 Barry Bresnihan: 1966, 1968 Ray McLoughlin: 1966 Mick Doyle: 1968 Fergus Slattery: 1971, 1974 Tom Grace: 1974 Denis Hickie: 2005 Brian O'Driscoll: 2001, 2005, 2009, 2013 Rob Kearney: 2009, 2013 Seán O'Brien: 2013, 2017

Ireland national rugby sevens team Harry McNulty Billy Dardis Hugo Keenan James Norton

Other internationals The following UCD players have also played at international level.

David Hewett Vasily Artemiev Stefan Obradovic Ben Barclay Jamie Jane Sean O'Neill Ian McKinley

See also

Honours

All-Ireland Cup 1937–38 Leinster Senior Cup 1923–24, 1937–38, 1947–48, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1969–70, 1976–77, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2019–20: 11 Leinster Junior Challenge Cup 1914: 1

References

External links