Louis Lynagh (born 3 December 2000) is a 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

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

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

Benetton Rugby Benetton Rugby, also known as Benetton Treviso ( or ), is an Italian professional rugby union team based in Treviso, Veneto which competes in the United Rugby Championship, the European Rugby Challenge Cup and European Rugby Champions Cup, Europ ...

. Born in Italy, he qualified for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

on residency grounds and represented them at age grade levels, before choosing to represent the country of his birth at senior level, making his debut for

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 9 March 2024.

Early life

Lynagh was born in

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

to an Italian mother and former Australian rugby player

Michael Lynagh Michael Patrick Thomas Lynagh, (born 25 October 1963) is an Australian former rugby union player who played 66 tests at Fly-half (rugby union), fly-half and six tests at inside centre between 1984 and 1995. Lynagh was Cap (sport), capped 72 time ...

. At the age of four he moved with his family to

where he began playing mini rugby at

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

and attended

Hampton School Hampton School is a fee-charging, boys-only private day school in Hampton, London, England. As of the 2024–2025 academic year, the school charges a minimum of £26,040 per year for attendance. Until 1975, the school was a voluntary aided gram ...

Club career

Harlequins

Lynagh joined the academy of Harlequins at the age of thirteen. In October 2020 he made his Premiership debut against

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...

and later that season scored a try during Harlequins 43–36 defeat of

Bristol Bears Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

in the semi-final, a game in which Quins recovered from 28 points down to win. The following weekend on 26 June 2021 Lynagh scored two late tries as Quins defeated defending champions

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

40-38 in the final at

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

to win their first Premiership title for nine years. In doing so he equalled the record for the most amount of tries scored by an individual player in a Premiership final and became the youngest ever try scorer in a Premiership final at just 20years 205 days old. In January 2024, although not originally named in the match day squad, Lynagh started on the bench for Harlequins in their Champions Cup pool stage fixture against

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

because Cameron Anderson was injured. An HIA replacement for Oscar Beard meant he came off the bench early in the game. Lynagh went on to win man of the match after scoring two tries from Ulster mistakes as they won 47-19. During the same European campaign, he was part of the side that defeated

Glasgow Warriors The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...

28-24 at home in the Round of 16, the first time the club had ever won a knockout game in the competition. He started in their semi-final elimination against

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

Benetton

Lynagh signed with Italian

club Benetton a two-year contract from the 2024–25 season, with option until 2027. He made his debut in Round 1 of

in the 2024–25 season against the .

International career

Lynagh represented the England under-16 team and in the summer of 2018 was a member of the England U18 side that toured South Africa. In September 2021 Lynagh received his first call-up to the senior

squad by coach Eddie Jones for a training camp. Despite previously being called into an England training camp, Lynagh was not capped. In February 2024, he received a call up to the

squad by head coach

Gonzalo Quesada Gonzalo Quesada (born 2 May 1974) is an Argentine rugby football, rugby coach and former player, who presently works as head coach for the Italy national rugby union team. Playing career Quesada was born May 2, 1974, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ...

for the 2024 Six Nations following the announcement of his move to Benetton at the end of the season. On 9 March 2024, he was named on the wing in the starting side, scoring a try on his debut against

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 ...

in a game that Italy won 31-29. The following match Lynagh went two wins from two as Italy beat

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

24-21 at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

. It was the first time since 2013 that Italy had achieved at least two wins from a Six Nations tournament.

Career statistics

List of international tries

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Stadio Olimpico Stadio Olimpico (; ), colloquially known as l'Olimpico (The Olympic), is an Italian multi-purpose sports venue located in Rome. Seating over 70,000 spectators, it is the largest sports facility in Rome and the second-largest in Italy, after ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

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2024 Six Nations Championship The 2024 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Men's Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was a rugby union competition that took place in February and March 2024, and featured the men's national teams of England national rugby union tea ...

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Apia Park Apia Park is a multi-function sports complex located in Apia, the capital of Samoa. Primarily used for rugby union events, Apia Park is the home stadium of the Samoa national rugby union team, Manu Samoa. It is also a venue for association footbal ...

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō'') of Tuamasaga. The Apia Urban A ...

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2024 mid-year rugby union tests The 2024 mid-year rugby union internationals (also known as the summer internationals in the Northern Hemisphere) are international rugby union matches mostly played in the Southern Hemisphere during the July international window. Series and tours ...

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References

External links

Harlequins ProfileUltimate Rugby Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynagh, Louis 2000 births Living people Italian rugby union players Italy international rugby union players Italian British rugby union players Italian people of Australian descent English rugby union players Benetton Rugby players Harlequin F.C. players People educated at Hampton School Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union wings