James Daniel Clinch (28 September 1901 – 1 May 1981) was an Irish medical practitioner and

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 ...

international who was capped in 30 Test matches for

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 ...

from 1923 to 1931.

Early life

Born in

Clondalkin Clondalkin () is a suburban village in County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, approximately west of Dublin city centre. It is within the administrative jurisdiction of South Dublin County Council, South Dublin. Clondalkin is also the na ...

, Clinch was the son of the Ireland and British Lions forward

Andrew Clinch Andrew Daniel Clinch MD JP (28 November 1867 – 1 February 1937),Andrew Clinch player profile

. He attended both

Catholic University School Catholic University School ''(C.U.S.)'' is a private (voluntary) secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland. The school was founded in 1867 by Bartholomew Woodlock as a preparatory school for the Catholic University of Ireland, the predeces ...

and St Andrew's College.

Rugby career

Clich represented

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 ...

in provincial rugby and won Leinster Senior Cup titles with

Dublin University The University of Dublin (), corporately named as The Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a research university located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dublin, whi ...

in 1920 and 1921. A flanker, Clinch took part in the

1924 British Lions tour to South Africa The 1924 British Isles tour to South Africa was the tenth tour by a British and Irish Lions, British Isles team and the fifth to South Africa. The tour is retrospectively classed as one of the British Lions tours, as the Lions naming convention ...

, but didn't feature in any of the Test matches. This did still give him and Andrew the distinction of being the first father and son duo to have been on a Lions tour. His 30 caps for Ireland equalled

George Hamlet George Thomas Hamlet (9 April 1881 – 20 October 1959) was an Irish rugby union international. Born in Balbriggan, Hamlet was a forward who played for Old Wesley and earned 30 caps for Ireland from 1902 to 1911, which included a stint as captain ...

's record for the most by an Ireland forward and remained a record until passed by Ronnie Kavanagh in 1961.

Medicine

Clinch initially studied medicine at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

during his playing career. He never graduated despite seven years of study and worked for a while as an insurance salesman, as well as serving a stint in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. In 1934, Clinch resumed his medical studies at the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...

and after graduating moved to Wales, where he worked as a general practitioner.

Personal life

Clinch was married with six children. His grandson is noted academic and economist Peter Clinch.

References

External links