Keith Wood (born 27 January 1972) is an Irish former rugby union player who played as a hooker at international level 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 ...

, and the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

. He also played at club level for Garryowen, Harlequins and

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

. He was nicknamed 'The Raging Potato' because of his bald head, and as '

Uncle Fester Uncle Fester (Addams) is a member of the fictional Addams Family and has been played by numerous actors, beginning with Jackie Coogan in the television series ''The Addams Family'' (1964–1966). Character Uncle Fester is a completely hairl ...

' due to his resemblance to the character in ''

The Addams Family The Addams Family is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 standalone single-panel comics, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' between 193 ...

''. Wood is considered by many to have been the best hooker in rugby union during his era, winning the inaugural

World Rugby Player of the Year The World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year is an award presented annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. It is given to honour "the achievements of those involved at the highest level of the world game on the field". First presente ...

award, and to be among the best hookers in the history of the game.

Early life

Wood was born in

Killaloe, County Clare Killaloe ( ; ) is a small town in east County Clare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies on the River Shannon on the western bank of Lough Derg (Shannon), Lough Derg and is connected by Killaloe Bridge to the "twin town" of Ballina, County ...

, and educated at

St Munchin's College St. Munchin's College is a boys–only Roman Catholic secondary school in Limerick, Ireland. It was founded by The Most Reverend John G. Young (bishop), John Young, Bishop of Limerick in 1796. As of January 2020, a total of 657 boys were enrolle ...

, Limerick. His father, Gordon Wood, played

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

29 times for Ireland.

Club career

Wood started his career with Garryowen who he helped to

All Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

titles in 1992 and 1994 before moving to Harlequins. He returned to play with

in the 1999–2000 season and played in the

European Rugby Cup European Rugby Cup Ltd (or ERC) was the governing body and organiser of the two major European rugby union club tournaments: the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup. It was replaced by the European Professional Club Rugby governing body in 2 ...

final that

lost to

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

9-8 in

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium (; usually known as Twickenham, and for sponsorship purposes known as the Allianz Stadium Twickenham) is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, London, England. It is owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the English rugby u ...

before returning to Harlequins. Having returned to Harlequins in 2000 he started the 2000–01 Challenge Cup final beating

Narbonne Narbonne ( , , ; ; ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and was ...

42–33 in the final helping the club to become the first English club ever to win the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

International career

Wood made his international debut in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

58 times for Ireland and five times for the Lions. Never the most accurate player in the set piece his real strength was in leadership and open play where he dominated the world XV's hooker spot. He played on the 1997 and 2001 Lions tours, and was the inaugural winner of the

IRB International Player of the Year The World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year is an award presented annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. It is given to honour "the achievements of those involved at the highest level of the world game on the field". First presente ...

award in 2001. He played a part in the Lions' 2-1 series victory over the Springboks in 1997. Wood captained Ireland. He scored four tries in one game in the 1999 World Cup, in the pool stage against the USA. Ireland were later eliminated from the tournament when they lost to Argentina in the quarter-final play-off. Wood retired from playing after the 2003 World Cup. He was succeeded as Ireland captain by

Brian O'Driscoll Brian Gerard O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at outside Centre (rugby union), centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster Rugby, Leinster and for Ireland national rugby union te ...

Honours

Individual

IRB player of the Year The World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year is an award presented annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. It is given to honour "the achievements of those involved at the highest level of the world game on the field". First presente ...

- 2001

Club

Harlequins

European Challenge Cup - 2001

Legacy

Wood was inducted into the

International Rugby Hall of Fame The International Rugby Hall of Fame (IRHOF) was a hall of fame for rugby union. It was created in 1997 in New Zealand and is run as a charitable trust with an address at Chiswick in London. Most of the trustees are also inductees. IRHOF accepted ...

in 2005, and to the

IRB Hall of Fame The World Rugby Hall of Fame (formerly the IRB Hall of Fame) recognises special achievement and contribution to the sport of rugby union. The World Rugby Hall of Fame covers players, coaches, administrators, match officials, institutions and othe ...

in 2014. Wood's total of 15 full international test tries was, at his international retirement, the record for a hooker, or indeed any player in the tight five. The previous record for international tries by hookers (or players at any position in the tight five) was 12, set by

Sean Fitzpatrick Sean Brian Thomas Fitzpatrick (born 4 June 1963) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He played for the dominant Auckland team in the late 1980s and 1990s, and won the first two Super 12 titles with the Auckland Blues in 1996 and 1997. ...

of the New Zealand All Blacks. Wood's record has since been beaten for tight-five players by current

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

front-rower

Joe Taufete'e Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage, based on the novel ''Joe'' (1991) by Larry Brown * Joe (2023 film), an Indian film * ''Joe'' (TV se ...

. Taufete'e to date has scored 22 tries as a hooker and one as a prop.

Media work

Wood has appearances on the BBC as a regular pundit and in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' as a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Personal life

Wood used to play

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

, and was a member of the

Clare GAA The Clare County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) () or Clare GAA is one of the 32 County board (Gaelic games), county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Clare. Clare plays its home games at ...

side that played in the inaugural Nenagh Co-op hurling tournament in 1988. In 2018, Wood opened a café and restaurant on the main street in his native Killaloe with business partner Malcolm Bell, called Wood & Bell.

References

External links

St Munchin's CollegeMunster profileIRFU profileprofile
at lionsrugby.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Keith 1972 births Living people British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Clare inter-county hurlers The Herald (Ireland) people World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees World Rugby Awards winners World Rugby Players of the Year Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Ireland national rugby union team captains Garryowen Football Club players Harlequin F.C. players Munster Rugby players Rugby union players from County Clare Rugby union hookers People educated at St Munchin's College 1995 Rugby World Cup players 1999 Rugby World Cup players 2003 Rugby World Cup players 20th-century Irish sportsmen 21st-century Irish sportsmen