Luke Matthew Fitzgerald (born 13 September 1987) is a former

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. He played at winger or fullback for

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 ...

. He retired in June 2016. Having previously studied at

Blackrock College Blackrock College () is a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by French missionary Jules Leman in 1860 as a school and later became al ...

he won two

Leinster Schools Senior Cup The Leinster Schools Senior Challenge Cup is the premier rugby union competition for secondary schools affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), and was first held in 1887. Attendances are high for a schoolboy ...

s, in 2004 and 2006. He won his first cap 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 ...

in November 2006. Fitzgerald earned the nickname "Pivot" from Leinster and Irish rugby fans due to his exciting runs and sidesteps from broken play. On 28 June 2016, Fitzgerald announced his retirement from professional rugby. He had suffered a neck injury in the 2016 Pro12 Final and had been advised to retire on medical grounds.

Family and personal life

An Irish speaker, Fitzgerald has a particular interest in the language.A little bit of Fitzy is all you need
/ref> He played

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 ...

at underage level. In

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

, he is a fan of the

Dublin senior football team The Dublin county football team represents Dublin in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Dublin GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Irelan ...

. He played Gaelic Football while he was growing up at Naomh Olaf CLG. Fitzgerald's father Des also played international rugby for Ireland, earning 34 caps at prop between 1984 and 1992. In August 2019, Fitzgerald became engaged to long-term girlfriend Aisling Burke.

Schools rugby

Fitzgerald played for the Blackrock College Senior Cup Team from 2004 to 2006, winning two Leinster Senior Cup Medals, in 2004 and 2006. He also won a Leinster Junior Cup Medal in 2003, beating

Gonzaga College Gonzaga College SJ is a voluntary Catholic boys' secondary school in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1950, Gonzaga College is under the trusteeship of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), one of five Jesuit secondary schools in Ir ...

in the final. He was the 2005 Irish Examiner Young Rugby Player of the Year. After leaving school, Fitzgerald joined renowned south Dublin club Blackrock College RFC, a natural transition from schools to club rugby.

Representative rugby

Fitzgerald played four matches for the Leinster Schools' Representative team. In his fifth year Fitzgerald played three games for the Irish Schools team. While in his final year he played three matches for the Leinster Under 19's, all as captain. He also won the Irish Examiner Young Player of the Year for the 2005/06 season.

Professional rugby

Provincial

After leaving school, Fitzgerald became a regular in the

Magners League squad. He scored his first try for the province against Edinburgh in the Heineken Cup, having come on as a substitute in a game Leinster ultimately lost 25–24. Fitzgerald was part of the Leinster team that beat

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 ...

(19–16) to win the

2008–09 Heineken Cup The 2008–09 Heineken Cup was the fourteenth edition of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. It started in October 2008 and ended on 23 May 2009 at Murrayfield St ...

International

Fitzgerald was named in Ireland's squad for the Autumn 2006 international series. After a strong performance against the 'Mid Week Wallabies" playing for Ireland A he won his first cap on 26 November 2006 against the

Pacific Islands The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...

. In doing so, he became the youngest player to play for Ireland in 29 years. He also became the 999th player to be capped for Ireland. After much public demand Fitzgerald was given a chance in the centre during Ireland's match with the Barbarians. He had a fine game putting in a lot of tackles, notably on

Lesley Vainikolo Lesley Paea 'I'muli Vainikolo (born 4 May 1979) is a former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. A dual code international, he has played for the New Zealand Kiwis in rugby league and England in rugby union. He began his care ...

. He was due to earn a second cap in the centre against the All Blacks. His centre partner would have been

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 ...

. He was forced to withdraw from this match due to an ankle injury. He was a member of the victorious Ireland team that won the

2009 Six Nations Championship The 2009 Six Nations Championship, known as the RBS 6 Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 10th Six Nations Championship, and the 115th international championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the six major European national ...

and Grand Slam where he played on the wing and started every game. On 21 April 2009, Fitzgerald was named as a member of 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 ...

for the 2009 tour to South Africa and made his test debut on 27 June against South Africa, during which he was eye-gouged by

Schalk Burger Schalk Willem Petrus Burger Jr. (born 13 April 1983) is a South African former professional rugby union player. He played as a Flanker (rugby union), flanker for Saracen F.C., Saracens in the English Premiership (rugby union), English Premiershi ...

. Burger was yellow-carded for the incident, and was subsequently banned for eight weeks for "making contact with the face in the eye area." He was however cleared of gouging, as his action was found to be "reckless" but not intentional. Fitzgerald believes Burger should have been sent off for gouging his eyes, "I went into the ruck, got cleaned out and felt a hand going for my eyes,"Given the seriousness of the allegations... you would have to say it was probably a red card." In November 2009, Fitzgerald was injured in Ireland's game 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 ...

, forcing him out for the rest of the season. He returned from injury at the beginning of the 2010–11 season to start at fullback for Leinster in their first preseason match against London Wasps Rugby Club. In March 2015, Fitzgerald was named in the starting team for Ireland in the last game of the

2015 Six Nations Championship The 2015 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2015 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 16th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union tournament. It was contested by E ...

away to

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 ...

, his first start since a World Cup warm-up game against France in a 2011 and first game since the defeat to New Zealand in November 2013.

References

External links

Leinster profileIRFU profileLions profile
*
The Irish Times - Luke Fitzgerald interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Luke 1987 births Living people Irish rugby union players Rugby union centres Rugby union wings Ireland international rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Leinster Rugby players Blackrock College RFC players People educated at Blackrock College Ireland Wolfhounds international rugby union players Naomh Ólaf Gaelic footballers Rugby union players from County Wicklow 2015 Rugby World Cup players