Damien Nicholas Fitzpatrick (born 8 June 1989) is an Australia 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 of Irish descent. He currently plays for the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play t ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

. He was captain of the

Sydney Rays Sydney, formerly the Sydney Rays, was an Australian rugby union team that competed in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). It was one of two sides from New South Wales that played in the final season of NRC in 2019; the other was the NSW C ...

team in the

National Rugby Championship The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following t ...

in 2017 and 2018. His position of choice is Hooker.

Early life

Damien Fitzpatrick was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia and grew up on the Lower North Shore. He began playing rugby at the Mosman Whales club where he was initially a breakaway and No. 8. During his schoolboy years at St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill he switched to hooker, the position he continued playing for his representative and professional career. In 2007 Fitzpatrick captained the St. Joseph's First XV to an undefeated premiership. His form during the competition earned him further representative honours as he captained the Combined GPS First XV and represented NSW at the Australian Schools Championships. He was awarded the highest honour in schoolboy rugby by being named captain of the Australian Schoolboys XV. The team went undefeated that year defeating touring teams from England, Samoa and New Zealand.

Rugby career

Contracted by the NSW Waratahs in 2008, Fitzpatrick was named captain of the Australian Under 20s for the Junior World Cup held in Japan in 2009. His team played some outstanding rugby to reach the semifinal in Tokyo, but a brave Junior Wallabies side was defeated 31-17 by a powerful second-half surge by the Baby All Blacks captained by Aaron Cruden. Fitzpatrick made his senior debut for the Waratahs during the

2009 Super 14 season The 2009 Super 14 season kicked off in February 2009 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 30 May, when the Bulls won their second Super Rugby title with a decisive 61–17 victory over the Chiefs at Loftus Versfeld sta ...

against the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

. He also continued playing club rugby for Eastwood, and was part of their

Shute Shield The Shute Shield, currently known as the Charter Hall Shute Shield, is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team fro ...

premiership-winning team in 2011. After five years with the Waratahs and a run of season-ending injuries that kept him sidelined for most of 2012 and 2013, he was contracted by French club Lyon. Fitzpatrick helped Lyon win the

Rugby Pro D2 The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...

competition twice, in 2014 and 2016, to gain promotion to the country's

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

premier division. His form offshore was noticed up by Wallaby coach

Michael Cheika Michael Cheika (born 4 March 1967) is an Australian professional rugby union and rugby league coach, and former rugby union player. He is head coach of Leicester Tigers in England's Premiership Rugby. Cheika was the coach of the Australia r ...

in 2016, and Fitzpatrick returned to Super Rugby in 2017 after being contracted by the NSW Waratahs. Fitzpatrick has been signed He was appointed captain of the

for the

in 2017 and 2018. Fitzpatrick has again been signed with the

NSW Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play ...

for the 2020 Super Ruby season which will be his ninth season. Fitzpatrick will have a short stint in France before returning in time for the 2020 Super Rugby season. Fitzpatrick is also the President of the Rugby Union Player's Association (RUPA).

Outside rugby

FitzPatrick has a Bachelor of Business degree from

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...

and is currently completing his MBA at Macquarie University.

References

External links

Waratahs player profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzpatrick, Damien Rugby union hookers Living people Australian rugby union players 1989 births Rugby union players from Sydney New South Wales Waratahs players Lyon OU Rugby players Australian expatriate rugby union players in France Macquarie University alumni Sydney (NRC team) players Stade Français Paris players Eastwood Rugby Club players 21st-century Australian sportsmen