Byron McGuigan (born 20 August 1989) is a

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 ...

outside centre In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in international rugby and for

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 ...

in the English Premiership. He was born in Walvis Bay – then a South African exclave, but part of modern-day

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

– and grew up in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, where he came through the academy before his first taste of first class rugby with the

Border Bulldogs The Border Bulldogs () is a South African professional rugby union team based in East London that participates in the annual Currie Cup competitions. They are governed by the Border Rugby Union (BRU). History The Border Rugby Football Union go ...

in 2010 and 2011. After a short spell with the

Scotland Sevens The Scotland Sevens was a rugby sevens tournament that was part of the Sevens World Series. In the 2014-15 season it was the penultimate event of the Sevens World Series circuit. It was first held in 2007 but has been removed from the series ...

team, he returned to fifteens rugby, playing for

Glasgow Warriors The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...

, ,

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

and

, culminating in a call-up to

in 2017.

Professional career

He played for

in the

Pro12 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 ...

having previously represented the

in South Africa's

Vodacom Cup The Vodacom Cup was an annual rugby union competition in South Africa. Annual Vodacom Cup competitions were played between its inaugural season in 1998 and 2015 and was contested between February and May each year. The Vodacom Cup was the succes ...

competition. It was announced in April 2014 that he had left Glasgow Warriors after 20 appearances and four tries over two seasons. On 2 November 2014,

Aviva Premiership 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 u ...

side

announced that McGuigan would be joining them for the 2014–15 season on a one-year deal. On 27 July 2016, McGuigan signed a two-year deal with Premiership rivals

from the 2016–17 season.

International career

McGuigan received his first call up to the senior

squad by coach

Gregor Townsend Gregor Peter John Townsend (born 26 April 1973) is a Scottish professional rugby union coach and former player who has been coaching the Scotland national team since 2017. Townsend was previously the assistant coach from 2009 to 2012. As a p ...

for the Autumn Internationals, making his debut against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

as a second-half replacement. During his full debut the following week, McGuigan scored his first two international tries against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. After a three-year stand-down period from international rugby, it was announced that McGuigan had switched counties to be able to represent the Namibia national team, but was not selected for the

2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup () was the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national rugby union teams. It took place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the country. The opening game ...

squad.

International tries

References

External links

Byron McGuigan
at itsrugby.co.uk * 1989 births Living people Bay of Plenty rugby union players Border Bulldogs players Exeter Chiefs players Expatriate rugby union players in New Zealand Glasgow Warriors players Male rugby sevens players Rugby union centres Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union players from Walvis Bay Scotland A international rugby union players Scotland international rugby sevens players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players Scottish expatriate rugby union players {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-1980s-stub