Cathal Forde (born 11 April 2001) 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, currently playing 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 ...

side

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 ...

. He plays as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

fly-half 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� ...

Early career

Forde was educated at The Jes/Colaiste Iognaid, Galway, playing rugby for their Junior & Senior Rugby Teams. Post school, he continued to play for the local club (where he first played Rugby at the age of 6)

Galway Corinthians RFC Galway Corinthians Rugby Football Club is a rugby club in Galway, Ireland and the largest rugby union club in the province of Connaught. The club was founded in 1932 and plays in Division 2A of the Irish domestic club competition the All-Irel ...

, in the

AIL Ail or AIL may refer to: * Illness, a state of poor health * Ail (''Sailor Moon''), a character in the ''Sailor Moon'' anime series * Acceptance in lieu, an arrangement in the UK for accepting works of art etc. in lieu of tax * Agilus, a Franki ...

, where he was named AIL Division 2B player of the season for 2021/2022.

Connacht

Forde was named as a member of the Connacht academy for the 2021–22 season. He made his debut for Connacht in Round 11 of the

2021–22 United Rugby Championship The 2021–22 United Rugby Championship was the twenty-first season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the first season that the competition is referred to as the United Rugby Championship ...

against . He scored his first 2 tries against Cell C Sharks in the Sportsground on January 7, 2023, and was named URC player of the match.

Ireland

Forde was selected as a development player in the

2025 Six Nations The 2025 Men's Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Men's Six Nations for sponsorship reasons and branded as M6N) was a rugby union competition that took place from late January to mid-March 2025, featuring the men's national teams of E ...

Ireland squad.He was selected alongside Ulster backrower James McNabney, Leinster scrum-half Hugh Cooney, and fellow Connacht player

Ben Murphy Ben Murphy (born March 6, 1942) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Kid Curry in the ABC television series '' Alias Smith and Jones''. Early life Murphy was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Benjamin R. Castleberry and Nadi ...

. The four will not partake in any of the games in the 2025 Six Nations, however they will be a part of pre-tournament training camps.

References

External links

* 2001 births Living people Irish rugby union players Connacht Rugby players Rugby union fly-halves People educated at Coláiste Iognáid 21st-century Irish sportsmen {{Ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub