Bernard Jackman (born 5 May 1976) is an Irish former

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 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 ...

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 ...

and

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

. At international level, he has also played for

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 ...

. He released his autobiography, ''Blue Blood'' in 2011. He coached at

FC Grenoble The Football Club de Grenoble Rugby (FCG) is a French rugby union club based in Grenoble and founded in 1892. FCG was champion of France in 1953–54 French Rugby Union Championship, 1954 and runner-up in 1992–93 French Rugby Union Championshi ...

from 2011 to 2017, becoming head coach in 2016. He was head coach of Welsh Pro14 side the

Dragons A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

from 2017 to 2018 and was head coach of

Bective Rangers Bective Rangers Football Club is a rugby union club in Dublin, Ireland founded in 1881. The Club is affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union and played in Division 1A of the Leinster League until the 2024-25 Season. H ...

FC from 2019 to 2024. Since 2018 he has contributed regularly as a rugby analyst and co-commentator for

RTÉ Sport RTÉ Sport is a department of Irish public broadcaster RTÉ. The department provides sporting coverage through a number of platforms including RTÉ Radio, RTÉ Television, RTÉ.ie, RTÉ Player, RTÉ Player Sport and RTÉ.ie, RTÉ Mobile. RTÉ h ...

eir Sport Eir Sport (stylised as eir Sport; formerly Setanta Sports) was a group of Irish television sports channels operated by Eircom Sport Limited, a subsidiary of Eir. In December 2015, Eir purchased original Setanta Sports operations in the Republi ...

Premier Sports Premier Sports is a group of pay sports television channels owned by SSBL Limited that are available in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Premier Sports holds exclusive live rights to La Liga, Scottish League Cup, Elite Ice Hockey League, NHL a ...

and other media outlets. In 2023 he was appointed Acting Head of High Performance Sport at Horse Sport Ireland in preparation for the

2024 Olympic Games The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Early life

Born 5 May 1976,

Tullow Tullow (; ), formerly Tullowphelim (), is a market town in County Carlow, Ireland. It is located on the River Slaney where the N81 road intersects with the R725. , the population was 5,138. Tullowphelim is the name of both a townland and civ ...

, County Carlow, Ireland, Jackman was educated at

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

and

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...

where he studied a degree in business studies and Japanese.

Playing career

Club rugby

Jackman was persuaded by

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 ...

to turn professional and subsequently had two spells playing for

. In between he also played for

, helping them win the 2001–02 European Challenge Cup. In 2005, Jackman signed for

. A broken leg hindered his early Leinster career but he eventually established himself as a first team regular. He was a prominent member of the team that won the

2007–08 Celtic League The 2007–08 Celtic League (known as the 2007–08 Magners League for sponsorship reasons) was the seventh Pro14, Celtic League season and the second with Magners as title sponsor. The season began on 31 August 2007 and finished on the weekend ...

title and he also earned himself a recall into the senior

squad. He retired from the professional game after a concussion injury in 2010. Bernard Jackman has become an acting ambassador for Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, standing strongly behind the concussion awareness campaign 'Mind your Head in Sport'. John Fogarty another Leinster Hooker had to retire with a similar concussion injury soon after.

Ireland international

Jackman represented Ireland at U19, U21 and college levels and captained Ireland A before graduating to the senior

team. He was included in the squad for the 1998 tour of South Africa but was not capped. He was capped twice during the 2005 tour of Japan and won two further caps during the 2007 tour of Argentina. He was also included in Ireland's

2008 Six Nations Championship The 2008 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2008 RBS 6 Nations because of sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the ninth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, the 114th series of the international championship. Fifteen ...

squad and featured in all five games.

Coaching career

Jackman has coached several junior Leinster teams, including Tullow RFC, Newbridge RFC and

Coolmine RFC Coolmine Rugby Football club is a rugby union club located at Ashbrook, near the suburbs of Castleknock and Blanchardstown in west County Dublin, Ireland, playing in Division 2A of the Leinster League. The club was established in 1980. Coolmin ...

. He has guided Newbridge to victory in both a league title and the Lalor Cup. In May 2009, he was appointed Director of Rugby and forwards coach of Clontarf FC. In 2011 he was appointed on a consultancy basis as skills and forwards coach with

and made full-time for the 2012/2013 season. In June 2016, following the departure of Fabrice Landreau, he became Head Coach of FC Grenoble. In March 2017, with the club bottom of the Top14 Jackman left Grenoble. Grenoble were subsequently relegated at the end of the 2016–17 season. For 2017–18, he became head coach at the

in Wales. Jackman parted company with the Dragons in December 2018 after 18 months in charge. In May 2019, Jackman was announced as the new head of coaching of

FC, a Dublin-based club and one of Ireland's oldest existing rugby clubs. On his appointment to Bective Rangers, Jackman said "I always found Bective to be a club with great people and having helped out the squad at the end of astseason I think they have the potential for future success”. Jackman stepped down from Bective after the 2023/2024 season to focus on his role as Head of Performance with Horse Sport Ireland.

Honours

Sale Sharks *

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 ...

**''Winners'': 2001–02: 1 Leinster *

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 ...

**''Winners'': 2007–08: 1 **''Runners up'': 2005–06: 1 *

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 ...

**''Winners'': 2008–09: 1

Books

* ''Blue Blood – The Bernard Jackman Autobiography'',

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackman, Bernard 1976 births Living people Rugby union players from County Carlow People educated at Newbridge College Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Leinster Rugby players Connacht Rugby players Clontarf FC players Lansdowne Football Club players Sale Sharks players Rugby union hookers Irish rugby union coaches Dragons RFC coaches