Niall Scannell (born 8 April 1992) is an Irish

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 hooker 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

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 ...

Munster

Scannell secured a development contract with the senior Munster for the 2013–14 season in April 2013. He made his senior Munster debut on 21 December 2013, coming on as a replacement against

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

in the

. Scannell made his first start for Munster on 27 December 2013, against

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

. He signed a one-year development contract extension in March 2014. In March 2015, Scannell signed a two-year contract with Munster. Scannell made his European debut on 12 December 2015, starting 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 ...

. Scannell signed a contract extension with Munster in January 2017. On 25 April 2017, it was announced that Scannell had been nominated by his teammates for the 2017 Munster Rugby Senior Player of the Year, alongside John Ryan and

Tyler Bleyendaal Tyler Bleyendaal (born 31 May 1990) is a New Zealand former rugby union player and current coach. Primarily a fly-half who could also play at centre, Bleyendaal played for Canterbury, and Munster during his playing career, before he was forc ...

. He signed a two-year contract extension with Munster in December 2018. Scannell earned his 100th cap for the province in their 39–22 defeat away to French club

Racing 92 Racing 92 () is a French professional rugby union club based in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Paris' western inner Banlieue, suburbs that competes in Top 14. The club plays its home matches at the 30,681-capacity Stadium#Types, domed stadium Pa ...

in round 5 of the 2019–20 Champions Cup on 12 January 2020, and he captained Munster for the first time in their

2019–20 Pro14 The 2019–20 PRO14 (also known as the ''Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the nineteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the third season to be referred to as the ''PR ...

round 12 fixture away to Italian side

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning " Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by t ...

on 21 February 2020, though Scannell left the field injured during the first-half of Munster's 28–0 win. A back injury Scannell sustained during training in October 2020 required surgery, ruling him out for two months. He signed a two-year contract extension with the province in February 2021. Scannell featured off the bench in Munster's historic 28–14 win against a South Africa XV in

Páirc Uí Chaoimh Páirc Uí Chaoimh ( ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Cork, Ireland. Often referred to simply as "The Park", it is the home of Cork GAA and is located in Ballintemple, near the site of the original Cork Athletic Grounds. In February 2024, follo ...

on 10 November 2022, and earned his 150th cap for Munster in their 17–6 away win against English club

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. ...

in round two of the 2022–23 Champions Cup on 18 December 2022. Scannell signed a two-year contract extension with the province in January 2023, and came on as a replacement in Munster's 19–14 win against the

Stormers The Stormers (known for sponsorship reasons as the DHL Stormers) and the academic team DHL Stormers is a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town in the Western Cape that competes in the United Rugby Championship, a tra ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the

2022–23 United Rugby Championship The 2022–23 United Rugby Championship was the 22nd season of the professional rugby union competition United Rugby Championship. It began on 16 September 2022 and ended on 27 May 2023. For sponsorship reasons it was known in South Africa as Vod ...

on 27 May 2023.

Ireland

Scannell won a total of eight caps for the Ireland Under-20 team, playing in the 2012 Under-20 Six Nations Championship and captaining the team at the

2012 IRB Junior World Championship The 2012 IRB Junior World Championship was the fifth IRB Junior World Championship, an annual international rugby union competition for Under-20 national teams. This competition replaced the now defunct Under 19 and Under 21 world championship ...

. On 23 January 2017, Scannell was named in the Ireland squad for the opening two rounds of the

2017 Six Nations Championship The 2017 Six Nations Championship was the 18th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. The tournament was also known as the RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by NatWest ...

. On 11 February 2017, Scannell made his debut for Ireland when, due to captain

Rory Best Rory David Best (born 15 August 1982) is an Irish former rugby union player who was the captain of the Ireland national team from 2016 to 2019. He played hooker for Ulster and was registered for Banbridge RFC. Best earned 124 caps for Irelan ...

's illness, he started against

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 ...

in the Six Nations. Scannell was also selected in the squad for the 2017 Summer Tour against the

United States 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 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. On 10 June 2017, in the one-off test against the

, Scannell scored his first try for Ireland, doing so in the 55–19 win in the Red Bull Arena,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. When Scannell's brother

Rory Rory is a given name of Gaelic origin. It is an anglicisation of the /''Ruaidhrí'' and /''Ruaraidh'' and is common to the Irish, Highland Scots and their diasporas. for the given name "Rory". The meaning of the name is "red king", composed ...

came on in the test as a replacement, they became the first Munster siblings to represent Ireland in the professional era. Having been called-up to replace captain

in Ireland's squad to tour Australia, Scannell went on to start in the second and third tests in Ireland's historic series victory. Scannell was selected in the 31-man Ireland squad for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup () was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening matc ...

, having featured in the warm-up matches against

and

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 ...

. During the World Cup itself, Scannell featured off the bench in Ireland's opening 27–3 win 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 ...

and started in the 35–0 win against

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, before again featuring off the bench in Ireland's 47–5 win against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

in their final pool game, and in the comprehensive 46–14 defeat against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in the quarter-finals, which brought an end to Ireland's 2019 World Cup. Having been absent from new head coach

Andy Farrell Andrew David Farrell (born 30 May 1975) is an English professional rugby union coach and former rugby league and rugby union player. Farrell has been head coach of the Ireland national team since 2019. Farrell earned 34 caps for Great Britai ...

's squads since he took over post-2019 World Cup, Scannell was called up to the Ireland squad for the 2022 tour of New Zealand as injury cover for Rob Herring. Scannell had been on holiday when he received his call up, and three days later came off the bench in Ireland's uncapped match against the

Māori All Blacks The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing is ...

on 29 June, which the Māori won 32–17. Scannell also started in the second uncapped match against the Māori All Blacks on 12 July, which Ireland won 30–24 to draw the series 1–1.

Honours

Munster

**Winner (1):

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Statistics

International analysis by opposition

Correct as of 19 October 2019Niall Scannell
''ESPN Scrum'', 3 October 2019

References

External links

*
Munster ProfileIreland ProfileURC Profile
*
U20 Six Nations Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scannell, Niall Living people 1992 births People educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork Rugby union players from Cork (city) Irish rugby union players Dolphin RFC players Munster Rugby players Munster Rugby captains Ireland international rugby union players 2019 Rugby World Cup players Rugby union hookers