Caelan Doris (born 2 April 1998) is an Irish professional

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 plays as a number eight for

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 ...

club

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 the Ireland national team.

Early life

Doris was born in Lacken,

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

. Doris's first involvement with rugby was with Ballina. He attended boarding school from the age of 12 onwards at

Blackrock College Blackrock College () is a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by French missionary Jules Leman in 1860 as a school and later became al ...

in Dublin, where he was a member of the victorious

Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup The Leinster Schools Senior Challenge Cup is the premier rugby union competition for secondary schools affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), and was first held in 1887. Attendances are high for a schoolboy ...

team in 2014 as well as captaining the 2016 side. His father Chris had attended Blackrock College, final year 1980, playing rugby at centre. Doris gained a degree in psychology at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

. He played two years on the Ireland Under-20 rugby team, the second as captain.

Professional career

Leinster

After leaving school in 2016, Doris spent a year in the

sub-academy before entering the academy in summer 2017. After a series of strong performances captaining the Ireland Under-20s, Doris was promoted two years early to Leinster's senior squad ahead of the 2018–19 season, after just one year in the academy, and having made his senior debut the previous season. On 18 December 2023, the IRFU announced that Doris had been given a three-year 'central contract' paid by the union, extending his time at Leinster until July 2027. In April 2025, he was nominated for Champions Cup Player of the Year 2025.

Ireland

Doris played for Ireland Under-20s in both 2017 and 2018, captaining them in the

2018 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2018 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the eleventh annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in France by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations played in the tournamen ...

. Despite a poor campaign from Ireland, he was one of the standout players of the tournament. He has 14 Ireland under-20 caps despite being injured for the entire 2018 Six Nations Under 20 Championship. Doris received his first call up to the senior

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 ...

squad for the

2020 Six Nations Championship The 2020 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 21st Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England national rugby union team, England ...

, and made his debut when he started at number 8 in Ireland's opening fixture against

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 ...

on 1 February 2020, though a concussion meant that his debut lasted only four minutes. Doris missed the

2021 Six Nations The 2021 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, ...

and returned to play for Ireland in the summer and autumn internationals playing a starring role in Ireland wins against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, New Zealand and Argentina. Doris also scored his first tries for Ireland in the matches against New Zealand and Argentina. Doris was selected by his fellow players as the Irish men’s Players’ Player of the Year 2023 at the Rugby Players Ireland awards. On 11 February 2024, Doris captained the Ireland team for the first time in their game 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 ...

in the

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...

. In October 2024, he was named as squad captain ahead of the 2024 Autumn Nations Series. In November 2024, he was nominated for World Rugby Player of the Year award for 2024 and named at No.8 in the 2024 World Rugby Dream Team of the Year.

Career statistics

List of international tries

Honours

; Individual * 1×

Pro14 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 ...

Young Player of the Year:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

* 1× Autumn Nations Series Player of the Series:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

* 1× IRUPA Players' Player of the Year: 2023 * 2×

World Rugby Men's 15s Dream Team of the Year World Rugby Men's 15s Dream Team of the Year was first presented in 2021 by World Rugby. The award is open to all men's 15s players who have played international test matches in the voting year. They are voted by a panel of international past play ...

: 2023, 2024 ; Leinster * 4×

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

; Ireland * 2x

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

* 1x Grand Slam:

* 3x Triple Crown:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

References

External links

* *
Ireland profileLeinster profilePro14 profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doris, Caelan 1998 births Living people People educated at Blackrock College Rugby union players from County Mayo Irish rugby union players Leinster Rugby players Ireland international rugby union players Rugby union number eights Rugby union flankers 2023 Rugby World Cup players