James Thomas Ritchie (born 16 August 1996) is a Scottish 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
flanker
Flanker may refer to:
* Flanker (perfume), a newly created perfume sharing attributes of an existing one
* Flanker (rugby union), a position in rugby union (not found in rugby league)
* ''Su-27 Flanker'' (video game), a 1996 computer game modelin ...
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
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
Jamie Ritchie started his rugby career while being brought up in the city of
Dundee
Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
. One of his idols is Dundee-born
Andy Nicol
Andrew Douglas Nicol (born 12 March 1971) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. A scrum-half, Nicol won 23 caps for Scotland and had brief spells as a replacement on two British & Irish Lions tours.
Rugby Union career
Amateu ...
.
Outside rugby, he was a silver medalist at the
British Judo Championships
The British Judo Championships are held annually and feature various age and weight categories to determine the British champion. The Championships are currently held at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield.
Until 2013, the Championships ...
first XI
The First XI (or, less commonly, First 11) are the eleven primary players in an organisation's leading team, particularly a football or cricket team. A player who is considered a core part of the starting line-up in a First XI team is often the ...
cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
at his school.
Club career
While still a teenager, Ritchie made his first-team debut in October 2014 with an appearance from the replacements' bench 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 ...
match against
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 January 2021, Ritchie signed the longest deal in Edinburgh's history, with head coach
Richard Cockerill
Richard Cockerill (born 16 December 1970) is an English rugby union coach and former player and since January 2024 has been the Head Coach of the Georgian National Rugby Team.
Prior to this he was the manager of Top 14 side Montpellier and wa ...
describing Ritchie as a future Scotland captain. "“Jamie is an excellent young player with an old head on his shoulders. He has a really bright future ahead of him and we’re delighted he’s signed such a long-term deal. His work-rate is immense but it’s the quality of work within that which sets him apart," Cockerill said.
On 6 February 2025, it was confirmed that Ritchie would leave Edinburgh to join French side
Perpignan
Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...
in the
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 ...
from the 2025-26 season.
International career
Ritchie has represented Scotland at under-16, under-18 and under-20. He played in the 2013 and 2014
European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship
The Rugby Europe Under-18 Championship is an annual rugby union championship for Under-18 national teams, held since 2004. The championship is organised by rugby's European governing body, Rugby Europe. In June 2014 he played four matches for Scotland under-20 at the
2014 IRB Junior World Championship
The 2014 IRB Junior World Championship was the seventh annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in Auckland, New Zealand by rugby's governing body, World Rugby, then known as the Internatio ...
.
Ritchie received his first call up to the senior
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 ...
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 ...
in October 2017
for the autumn internationals. Ritchie received his first senior cap against
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
on the 9 June 2018 in a 48–10 victory.
Ritchie was picked in Scotland's 2019 Rugby World Cup squad. However he fractured his cheekbone in the last warm-up match for Scotland against Georgia.
Ritchie received player of the match in Scotland's match against France in the 2020 Six Nations, after getting punched by France prop
Mohamed Haouas
Mohamed Haouas (born 9 March 1994) is an international French rugby union player and convicted domestic abuser. His position is prop. He measures 1.85 m and weighs 127 kg. He has played for the French national side as well as Clermont Auverg ...
During this game
Mohamed Haouas
Mohamed Haouas (born 9 March 1994) is an international French rugby union player and convicted domestic abuser. His position is prop. He measures 1.85 m and weighs 127 kg. He has played for the French national side as well as Clermont Auverg ...
was sent off for dangerous play in the 37th minute for punching Ritchie. He once again won a 2020 Six Nations player of the match award, this time against Wales in a 14–10 victory. It was Scotland's first win on Welsh soil since 2002.
In October 2022 Ritchie was named as the captain of the Scottish squad for the
2022 end-of-year rugby union internationals
The 2022 end of year rugby union tests, also known as the 2022 Autumn internationals, were a number of rugby union test matches played during the months of October and November. Some of the games were known as the Autumn Nations Series for marketin ...
. In 2023 Ritchie was selected in Scotland's 33 player squad 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 ...
Scottish Rugby Union
The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; ) is the Sport governing body, governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Now marketed as Scottish Rugby, it is the second-oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league sys ...
Edinburgh Rugby
Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...