Ross Noonan (born 14 February 1985) is an Irish former rugby union player.

Early life

Born in

Douglas, Cork Douglas () is a suburb, with a village core, in Cork (city), Cork city, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Douglas is also the name of the townland, Parish (Catholic Church), Roman Catholic parish, Church of Ireland parish and Civil parishes in Irel ...

, Noonan first began playing rugby for Cork club Dolphin's underage teams. He attended Christian Brothers College and played

Munster Schools Rugby Senior Cup The Munster Schools Senior Cup or Munster Senior Cup is the under-age rugby union competition for schools affiliated to the Munster Branch of the IRFU. The inaugural Munster Schools Senior Cup took place in 1909 and, since then, Cork city's two ...

for the school, captaining them to Bowen Shield victories in 2001 and 2003. He was part the

UCC The initialism UCC may stand for: Law * Uniform civil code of India, referring to proposed Civil code in the legal system of India, which would apply equally to all irrespective of their religion * Uniform Commercial Code, a 1952 uniform act to h ...

under-20s team that won the All-Ireland Under-20 League during the 2004–05 season and played for the sides senior team during the 2005–06 season, before joining Cork Constitution ahead of the 2006–07 season.

Professional career

Munster

Noonan represented Munster at under-21 level in 2004 and 2005, and joined the newly created Munster academy in 2004. He was awarded the ''John McCarthy Award for Munster Academy Player of the Year'' for the 2005–06 season, and made his competitive senior debut for the province on 1 September 2006, when he started in their 22–13 defeat against Welsh side

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms ...

whilst still in the academy.

Bedford Blues

Having found first team opportunities limited at Munster, Noonan left the province ahead of the 2007–08 season and moved to England to join

Bedford Blues Bedford Blues are a rugby union club in the town of Bedford, England, currently playing in The RFU Championship. Bedford is one of the few towns in England where the rugby club is better supported than the football team. The Blues are a semi-pro ...

, who were coached by Mike Rayer and played in National Division 1.

Pertemps Bees

Noonan joined Birmingham & Solihull, better known as Pertemps Bees, from Bedford Blues, though his time with the club was hampered by injury.

Rotherham

After being released by Pertemps Bees, Noonan joined Rotherham on a trial, but struggled to break into the first XV. He spent some time on loan to Hull Ionians, and Stourbridge expressed interest in signing Noonan to help in their relegation battle.

Ireland

Noonan was part of the

Ireland Schools The Irish Schoolboys rugby union team is the national team for secondary school students and under-18 school players in Ireland. There is an equivalent Ireland under 18 clubs side that play international rugby. Role The Irish Schoolboys side re ...

team that won a grand slam in 2003, and he went on to represent Ireland under-19s at the 2004 U19 World Championship, and Ireland under-21s at the 2005 and 2006 U21 World Championships.

Life after rugby

After ending his rugby career in 2012, Noonan joined Capgemini, before joining

Berkeley Group Holdings The Berkeley Group Holdings plc is a British property developer and house-builder based in Cobham, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The company was founded by Tony Pid ...

References

External links

Ross Noonan
at

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

Ross Noonan
at Its Rugby
Ross Noonan
at LinkedIn {{DEFAULTSORT:Noonan, Ross Living people 1985 births People educated at Christian Brothers College, Cork Rugby union players from Cork (city) Irish rugby union players Dolphin RFC players University College Cork RFC players Cork Constitution players Munster Rugby players Bedford Blues players Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C. players Rotherham Titans players Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Rugby union locks