Billy Holland (born 3 August 1985) 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 spent his entire career playing for his native province of

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 ...

, whilst also earning a single international cap 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 played primarily as a

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

, though also played flanker occasionally, and represented Cork Constitution in the All-Ireland League.

Professional career

Munster

Holland made his full debut for Munster against

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

on 22 September 2007, having made his non-competitive debut 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 a friendly on 7 September. He was part of the Munster team that narrowly lost to

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on 18 November 2008, in the opening game of the new

Thomond Park Thomond Park is a stadium in Limerick in the Irish province of Munster. The stadium is owned by the Munster Rugby and has Shannon RFC and UL Bohemian RFC as tenants. Limerick FC played home games in Thomond Park from 2013 to 2015 in the Le ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut in Munster 2009–10 Heineken Cup quarter-final against

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

on 10 April 2010. Holland started for Munster in their historic 15–6 victory over

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on 16 November 2010. He signed a new two-year contract with Munster in March 2012. Holland led Munster A to victory in the

2011–12 British and Irish Cup The 2011–12 British and Irish Cup was the 3rd season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. First round matches began on Wednesday 21 September 2011 and the final was held on Fri ...

Final, putting in a captains performance in the 31–12 win. Holland captained Munster against

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on 29 November 2013. He signed a new two-year contract with Munster in February 2014, which will see him remain with the province until at least June 2016. Holland was nominated for the 2015 Munster Rugby Senior Player of the Year Award in April 2015. In January 2016, Holland signed a new two-year contract with Munster. He was nominated for the 2016 Munster Senior Player of the Year Award, the second successive season he was nominated. On 5 May 2017, Holland was named in the

2016–17 Pro12 The 2016–17 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the sixteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the seventh with a four-country format. It was t ...

Dream Team. Holland started Munster's first 16 games of the 2017–18 season and signed a two-year contract extension with the province in January 2018. He won his 200th cap for Munster during their

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 13 win against

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 ...

on 5 January 2019, becoming just the tenth player to achieve the feat with the province. He signed a one-year contract extension with the province in February 2020. Holland became Munster's joint-second most capped player with

Ronan O'Gara Ronan John Ross O'Gara (born 7 March 1977) is an Irish former rugby union player and current coach. O'Gara played as a fly-half and is Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland's third most-capped player and second highest points scorer. He i ...

on 240 caps when he captained the province to a 22–10 away win against

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in round 12 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 20 February 2021, also winning the Man-of-the-Match award. He retired at the end of the 2020–21 season after 14 years with the province, and was named in the 2020–21 Pro14 Dream Team in his final season. Holland's final game for Munster was their 54–11 away win against Italian side

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning " Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by t ...

in round 6 of the

Pro14 Rainbow Cup The Pro14 Rainbow Cup (also known as the Guinness Brewery, Guinness Pro14 Rainbow Cup for sponsorship reasons) was a professional rugby union end-of-season cup competition played in 2021 that consisted of two separate tournaments: the Rainbow C ...

on 11 June 2021.

Ireland

Holland had represented Ireland Schools, Ireland under 19s and Ireland under 21s. He won the IRUPA Award for Unsung Hero on 8 May 2013. He started for

Emerging Ireland Emerging Ireland is an Irish international rugby union team that represents Irish Rugby Football Union, Ireland in selected matches, tours and competitions. Composed of Ireland qualified players only, mostly uncapped or at the beginning of their c ...

their second

2014 IRB Nations Cup The 2014 IRB Nations Cup was the ninth edition of the international rugby union tournament, a competition created by the International Rugby Board. For the eighth time in a row, it was held in Bucharest, Romania. It was played between 13 and 22 Ju ...

game against

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on 18 June 2014, scoring a try. He also started in the 31–10 victory over

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on 22 June 2014, a win that secured the

for Emerging Ireland. Holland was added to the senior

squad for the

2015 Six Nations Championship The 2015 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2015 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 16th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union tournament. It was contested by E ...

game against

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on 24 February 2015. He was named in the

squad for the 2015 World Rugby Tbilisi Cup on 19 May 2015. Holland started in the opening 25–0 win against Emerging Italy on 13 June 2015. Holland started in the 33–7 win against

on 17 June 2015. He captained the side in the 45–12 win against

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on 21 June 2015, a win which secured the tournament for Emerging Ireland. On 26 October 2016, Holland was named in Ireland's squad for the

2016 end-of-year rugby union internationals The 2016 end-of-year rugby union internationals, also known as the ''2016 Autumn Internationals'' in the Northern Hemisphere, were a series of international rugby union matches predominantly played between the visiting Southern Hemisphere countries ...

. On 12 November 2016, Holland made his senior Ireland debut when he started in the 52–21 win against

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. On 23 January 2017, Holland was named in the Ireland squad for the opening two rounds of the

2017 Six Nations Championship The 2017 Six Nations Championship was the 18th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. The tournament was also known as the RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by NatWest ...

. Holland was awarded the ''Contribution to Irish Society'' accolade at the Irish Rugby Players Awards in October 2020. Holland was the recipient of the 2021

Guinness Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...

Rugby Writers of Ireland's ''Tom Rooney Award'' in recognition of his contribution to Irish rugby.

Honours

Emerging Ireland

World Rugby Nations Cup The Nations Cup is a rugby union competition that was first held in 2006 at Estádio Universitário in Lisbon with Argentina A, Italy A, Portugal and Russia taking part. The tournament is part of the International Rugby Board's US $50 million St ...

**Winner (1):

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* World Rugby Tbilisi Cup **Winner (1):

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Individual

United Rugby Championship 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 ...

Dream Team **Member (2): 2016–17, 2020–21

References

External links

Munster ProfileIreland ProfilePro14 Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holland, Billy Living people 1985 births People educated at Christian Brothers College, Cork Rugby union players from Cork (city) Irish rugby union players University College Cork RFC players Cork Constitution players Munster Rugby players Munster Rugby captains Ireland international rugby union players Rugby union locks Rugby union flankers