Eoin Reddan (born

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, 20 November 1980) is a retired Irish

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who played at

scrum half Scrum may refer to: * Autozam Scrum, a microvan and pickup truck sold in Japan by Mazda * Line of scrimmage, line separating football teams before a play * Media scrum, an impromptu press conference, often held immediately outside an event such a ...

. He initially attended the Jesuit boarding school,

Clongowes Wood Clongowes Wood College SJ is a Catholic voluntary boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodg ...

, before moving school to Crescent College Comprehensive where he captained the school side. On leaving school he studied at the

University of Limerick University of Limerick (UL) () is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972, as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in Septemb ...

Club/Provincial career

Reddan began playing rugby at 13 years of age with Old Crescent. He earned caps for

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

at both schools and U19 levels. He played in the

AIB League The All-Ireland League (AIL), known for sponsorship reasons as the Energia All-Ireland League, is the national league system for the 50 senior rugby union clubs in Ireland, covering both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The league w ...

with both Old Crescent and

Young Munster Young Munster is a rugby union club based in Limerick, Ireland, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. It was founded in 1895 and plays its games at Tom Clifford Park in Rosbrien, Limerick. The club has won the Munster Senior Rugb ...

before signing for

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

in 2001. He returned to Munster to sign a full-time contract in 2003 and debuted against

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

in the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organization, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places pa ...

in September of that year making 27 league appearances over two seasons. Former Ireland and Connacht coach

Warren Gatland Warren David Gatland (born 17 September 1963) is a New Zealand former rugby union player and the former head coach of the Wales national rugby union team, Wales national team. As a player, he was a Hooker (rugby union), hooker and was one of ...

signed Reddan to join London Wasps in 2005, where he succeeded

Matt Dawson Matthew James Sutherland Dawson, MBE (born 31 October 1972) is an English retired rugby union player who played scrum half for Northampton Saints and then London Wasps. During his international career he toured with the British & Irish Li ...

to become first choice scrum half, winning both a

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

in 2007 (scoring a try in the final) and the 2008

Guinness Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

with them as well as captaining the side during the absence of

Lawrence Dallaglio Lorenzo Bruno Nero Dallaglio (born 10 August 1972) is an English retired rugby union player. He is a former captain of England, and a 2016 inductee of the World Rugby Hall of Fame. Dallaglio played as a flanker or number eight for London ...

in 2007/08. He joined

in the summer of 2009 on a three-year contract. Reddan made his 100th appearance for Leinster during their

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

Grand Final play off game against Ulster on 17 May 2014. Reddan retired in June 2016 after making 140 appearances for Leinster.

International career

First capped at Schools level, Reddan represented Ireland at U19 and Student levels, making his senior international debut in the 2006 Six Nations as a replacement against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

at the

Stade de France Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...

. His first start came against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

during the summer tour that year. He displaced

Peter Stringer Peter Alexander Stringer (born 13 December 1977) is an Irish former rugby union player who played at scrum-half. He played 13 seasons with Irish province Munster from 1998 to 2011; he then played seven seasons from 2011 to 2018 in England wit ...

during the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

in the Irish team after Irelands disastrous start to the campaign, playing in their two final group games, losses against Argentina and France. He made his first Six Nations start for Ireland in their 16–11 victory over Italy at

Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...

in 2008 earning man of the match for his performance. He was then replaced by

Tomás O'Leary Tomás O'Leary (born 22 October 1983) is an Irish former rugby union player who played as a scrum-half. O'Leary played most of his career in the United Rugby Championship with Munster, where he was part of the team that won the Heineken Cup i ...

as first choice Ireland scrum half. He was named in the Irish squad for the 2009 summer tour to America. By the

Rugby World Cup 2011 The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South A ...

game against Australia, Reddan had replaced O'Leary as the first choice scrum half in the Ireland XV. He scored his second try for Ireland against Scotland on 10 March 2012. Reddan appeared in three

2013 Six Nations The 2013 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2013 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 14th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship ...

matches as a replacement but broke his leg in a 13-13 draw with France that ruled him out for three months. Reddan retired from all rugby in June 2016, making his 71st and final appearance for the national team from the bench in the Third Test of the 2016 Ireland Tour of South Africa, in Port Elizabeth.

Personal life

Reddan married his long term girlfriend; Aoife O'Gorman on Friday 10 July 2009. The reception was held at The Lodge at Doonbeg, Co Clare, Ireland.

References

External links

Munster profileLeinster profileIreland profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reddan, Eoin 1980 births Living people Rugby union scrum-halves Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Ireland national rugby union team captains Leinster Rugby players Munster Rugby players Connacht Rugby players Wasps RFC players People educated at Crescent College Rugby union players from Limerick (city) Irish expatriate rugby union players in England Alumni of the University of Limerick 2007 Rugby World Cup players 2011 Rugby World Cup players 2015 Rugby World Cup players