Alex McHenry (born 7 October 1997) is an 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 for

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

club

Jersey Reds Jersey Reds was a rugby union club based in Jersey, Channel Islands. On 28th September 2023, the club ceased trading and shortly thereafter went into liquidation following the withdrawal of financial support from a key investor. Until seaso ...

. He plays as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

Early life

Born in

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

, McHenry won the

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 trophy is named after Garrett Fitzgerald former CBC coach, Munster coach and Munster CEO. ...

in 2016 with Christian Brothers College, alongside former Munster teammate Liam Coombes. Prior to this, McHenry had captained Munster under-19s to inter-provincial success in 2015, and also represented Munster under-18 Schools and Ireland under-19s.

Career

Cork Constitution

McHenry was part of the Cork Con team that won a treble during the 2016–17 season, winning the All-Ireland League,

All-Ireland Cup The All-Ireland Cup, also known as the Bateman Cup, is a knock-out competition for the winners of the four provincial rugby union cups in Ireland. History The Bateman Cup ran from 1922 to 1939 as a competition for the four provincial cup-winners, ...

and Munster Senior Cup, as well as winning a second Senior Cup and All-Ireland League during the 2018–19 season, and a third Senior Cup during the 2019–20 season.

Munster

McHenry made his debut for Munster A against English

side

Doncaster Knights Doncaster Knights Rugby Football Club ''(formerly, Doncaster RFC)'' are a professional rugby union club representing the city of Doncaster, England. The club play in the 2nd division of English rugby, the RFU Championship. Being the most prom ...

in round 6 of the 2016–17 British and Irish Cup on 13 January 2017. Munster A won the match 24–16 to secure a home quarter-final in the tournament, which they eventually won by defeating

29–28 in the final in April 2017, though McHenry was not part of the team on the day. He went on to then join the Munster academy ahead of the 2017–18 season. McHenry played in all 6 of Munster A's fixtures during the

2018–19 Celtic Cup The 2018 Celtic Cup is the inaugural edition of the Celtic Cup (2018 rugby union tournament), Celtic Cup rugby union competition, which features development regional and provincial teams from Ireland and Wales. It ran for six weeks from September ...

, and also played for the 'A' team in their 38–19 win against

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR) is a professional rugby union competition in the United States. The league comprises 11 teams. While operating outside of the governance and oversight of the national governing body, the league is officially sanctioned ...

side

New England Free Jacks The New England Free Jacks are an American professional rugby union team based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). They were announced in September 2018 and began to compete professionally in October 2018. They co ...

in the

Cara Cup The Cara Cup was an international club rugby union competition between the teams of the New England Free Jacks, of Major League Rugby, Connacht, Ulster, Munster, and Leinster, academy sides of Irish Pro14 teams. History On November 9, 2018, This ...

in April 2019. Following the win against New England, McHenry, along with other teammates from the 'A' team, were recalled to join up with the senior squad, and he was subsequently named as a replacement for the

2018–19 Pro14 The 2018–19 Pro14 (also known as the '' Guinness Pro14'' for sponsorship reasons) is the eighteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the second season to be referred to as the '' ...

round 20 fixture against Italian side Benetton on 12 April 2019. McHenry made his senior competitive debut for Munster when he came on as a replacement for Sammy Arnold during the match, which Munster won 37–28. He joined the Munster senior squad on a one-year contract ahead of the 2020–21 season and extended that deal by a further year in February 2021. McHenry scored his first try for Munster in their 31–17 win against Italian side Benetton in round 16 of the

2020–21 Pro14 The 2020–21 PRO14 (also known as the ''Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the twentieth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the fourth season to be referred to as the ''P ...

on 19 March 2021. McHenry left Munster at the end of the 2021–22 season.

Loan to Wasps

McHenry joined English

Premiership Rugby 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 ...

club

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

on loan in October 2021, providing cover for the injured

Malakai Fekitoa Malakai Fonokalafi Fekitoa (born 10 May 1992) is a Tongan professional rugby union player who plays as a centre for United Rugby Championship club Benetton and the Tonga national team. Early life Fekitoa was born in Haʻapai, Tonga. The ...

. He made his debut for the club in their 56–15 defeat against

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

in round 6 of the

2021–22 Premiership Rugby The 2021–22 Premiership Rugby was the 35th season of the top flight of English domestic rugby union competition and the fourth to be sponsored by Gallagher. It is also the first since 1992–93 to feature thirteen teams. The competition was ...

season on 24 October 2021.

Jersey Reds

McHenry joined

club

ahead of the 2022–23 season, and won the Championship in his first season with the club.

Ireland

McHenry won his first cap for Ireland under-20s in their

2017 Six Nations Under 20s Championship The 2017 Six Nations Under 20s Championship, was the 10th series of the Six Nations Under 20s Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Wales were the defending champions. The competition was won by England, who complet ...

clash with

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 ...

on 24 February 2017, which Ireland won 27–22. He also featured for the Ireland 7s team during the 2017–18 season.

Honours

Christian Brothers College

: **Winner (1): 2016

Cork Constitution

* All-Ireland League Division 1A: **Winner (2): 2016–17, 2018–19 *

: **Winner (1): 2016–17 * Munster Senior Cup: **Winner (3): 2016–17, 2018–19, 2019–20

Jersey Reds

: **Winner (1):

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

External links

Munster Senior ProfileURC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McHenry, Alex 1997 births Living people People educated at Christian Brothers College, Cork Rugby union players from Cork (city) Irish rugby union players Cork Constitution players Munster Rugby players Wasps RFC players Jersey Reds players Ireland international rugby sevens players Irish expatriate rugby union players in England Expatriate rugby union players in Jersey Irish expatriate sportspeople in Jersey Rugby union centres