Billy Scannell (born 16 September 1999) 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. He plays as a hooker.

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 * ...

, Scannell is the younger brother 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 ...

players

Niall Niall is a male given name of Irish origin. The original meaning of the name is unknown, but popular modern sources have suggested that it means "champion" (derived from the Old Irish word ''niadh''). According to John Ryan, Professor of Early and ...

and

Rory Rory is a given name of Gaelic origin. It is an anglicisation of the /''Ruaidhrí'' and /''Ruaraidh'' and is common to the Irish, Highland Scots and their diasporas. for the given name "Rory". The meaning of the name is "red king", composed ...

and a cousin of Jack O'Sullivan. His grandfather is Donal O'Sullivan, who captained

to the 1956 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. Scannell first began playing rugby for Douglas RFC, but switched to

Cork Constitution The Cork Constitution (CC) is a rugby union club based in Cork, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. It was founded by staff of the '' Cork Constitution'' newspaper. Since the paper did not publish on Sundays, the staff were lo ...

at under-12 level, where his older brothers were already on the books. He attended

Presentation Brothers College, Cork Presentation Brothers College (PBC Cork) (; colloquially known as Pres) is a Catholic, boys, private fee-paying secondary school in Cork (city), Cork, Ireland. As of 2020, Presentation Brothers College was ranked as the top boys secondary sc ...

and won a

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 2017, in a side that was captained by his cousin Jack. Scannell also captained the school's senior side, and started for Ireland under-18s in all three of their tests against Italy, England and Wales.

Club career

After finishing school in 2018, Scannell entered Munster's sub-academy and began playing in the amateur All-Ireland League with

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 ...

club

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 ...

. Scannell was overlooked for promotion to Munster's academy, so instead, at the age of 19, he signed a two-year academy contract with French club

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxu ...

ahead of the 2019–20 season. The deal meant that Scannell would train full-time with the club's senior squad, whilst initially playing matches for the ''espoirs'', or under-23s, side. He made his senior competitive debut for the club in their 2019–20 Pro D2 round 20 fixture away to

Vannes Vannes (; , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Morbihan, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, northwestern mainland France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago. History Celtic ...

on 14 February 2020. Scannell joined

Fédérale 1 The championnat de France de rugby à XV de 1re division fédérale (), a.k.a. Fédérale 1 (), is a French rugby union club competition, it is the elite of amateur rugby in France. The competition has been organised by the Fédération Français ...

club Stade Lagonnais on loan for the 2021–22 season.

International career

Having previously represented Ireland at under-18 and under-19 level, Scannell made his debut for Ireland under-20s in their 34–14 win against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 22 February 2019 during the

2019 Six Nations Under 20s Championship The 2019 Six Nations Under 20s Championship was the 12th series of the Six Nations Under 20s Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. France were the defending champions. Ireland won the tournament and a Grand Slam, a ...

. Ireland went on to win a

grand slam Grand Slam or Grand slam may refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category terminology originating in contract bridge and other whist card games Athletics * Grand Slam Track, professional track and field league Auto racing * ...

in that year's tournament.

References

External links

* * Living people 1999 births People educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork Rugby union players from County Cork Irish rugby union players Young Munster players Cork Constitution players Biarritz Olympique players Rugby union hookers Irish expatriate rugby union players in France {{ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub