Conor McPhillips (

Irish name A formal Irish name consists of a given name and a surname. In the Irish language, surnames are generally patronymic in etymology but are no longer literal patronyms as, for example, most Icelandic names still are. The form of a surname varie ...

: ''Conchobhar MacPhilib'' ; born 9 February 1981) is a former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, who currently works as an assistant coach for

English Premiership The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Bristol Bears Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 1 ...

. McPhillips spent his professional playing career with Connacht, where he also served as a coach before joining Bristol in 2017.

Playing career

Connacht

McPhillips played professional rugby for Connacht from 2003 to 2009, with the highlight being

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...

semi-finals against Harlequins and

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the ...

. He scored 11 tries in his first season with Connacht, making him the top scorer in the Celtic League for the season. McPhillips scored a total of 20 tries in the Celtic League and 12 in the

, which saw him leave as the team's top try scorer though his record was later overtaken by

Fionn Carr Fionn Carr (born 17 December 1985) is an Irish rugby union player. He plays primarily as a wing but can also play at fullback. Carr played most of his professional career for Irish province Connacht in the Pro12. He also played for another Iri ...

. In August 2007, he played scrum half for Connacht in the defeat against South Africa in a World Cup preparation friendly match. South Africa went on to be crowned World Cup Champions.

International

McPhillips played for Ireland U21s in the 2002 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. He played Sevens rugby for

in the

2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the third edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens and was held in Mar del Plata, Argentina. New Zealand defeated Australia to win the tournament for the first time. This was the first major rugby event ever hel ...

in Argentina and

2008 Hannover Sevens The 2008 European Sevens Championship was a rugby sevens competition, with the final held in Hanover, Germany. It was the seventh edition of the European Sevens championship and also functioned as a qualifying tournament for the 2009 Rugby World ...

. He was called up to the

2005 Ireland rugby union tour of Japan 2005 Ireland rugby union tour of Japan. Eleven Ireland players, including their captain Brian O'Driscoll, plus their coach Eddie O'Sullivan were included in the British & Irish Lions squad for their tour of New Zealand. As a result, the Ireland ...

and he won 2 caps for the Irish 'A' side in the

2006 Churchill Cup The 2006 Churchill Cup was a rugby union competition played between the second teams of various top tier international rugby nations and the first teams of traditionally less prominent teams, such as Canada and the United States. The 2006 tournamen ...

against England and France.

Coaching career

After the end of his professional career, McPhillips moved to All-Ireland League club St Mary's College in Dublin as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

. He played scrum-half in the defeat to

Cork Constitution The Cork Constitution (CC) is a rugby union club based in Cork, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. It was founded by staff of the ''Cork Constitution'' newspaper. Since the paper did not publish on Sundays, the staff were lookin ...

in the 2010 All-Ireland League final and helped St Mary's College win the 2010 Leinster Senior League title.AIB League Final Report
/ref> Following his success With St Mary's, McPhillips returned to his former club Connacht as head of video analysis under head coach

Eric Elwood Eric Elwood is a former Irish rugby union player from Galway. He played as a fly-half. He played for Ireland internationally, and provincially for Connacht. He split his club career between hometown club Galwegians and Lansdowne in Dublin ...

, his former teammate. He continued in this role under Elwood and his successor

Pat Lam Patrick Richard Lam (born 29 September 1968) is a rugby union coach and former player. He is currently Director of Rugby at Bristol Bears in England's Premiership Rugby. Born in New Zealand, he represented New Zealand in schools and under-21 ...

until the 2015–16 season when he became an assistant to attack coach Andre Bell, though he continued in his previous role of head analyst. With the departure of Bell the following year, McPhillips was promoted to attack coach for the 2016–17 season. In 2017, McPhillips joined English second-tier club

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

, where Pat Lam had taken over as head coach. In his first season with the team, they earned promotion to the Premiership.

References

External links

Rookie enjoying life in the fast lane

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

Sprinter McPhillips makes cut

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{{DEFAULTSORT:McPhillips, Conor Irish rugby union coaches Irish rugby union players Connacht Rugby players Galwegians RFC players St Mary's College RFC players 1981 births Living people Rugby union players from Dublin (city) Connacht Rugby non-playing staff Ireland international rugby sevens players