Nick De Luca (born 1 February 1984) is a Scottish former 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 played as a
centre.
Early years
De Luca was born in
Dumfries
Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...
and grew up in
Lockerbie
Lockerbie (, ) is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, located in south-western Scotland. The 2001 Census recorded its population as 4,009. The town had an estimated population of in . The town came to international attention in December 1988 when ...
.
Club rugby
De Luca's position of choice is as a
Centre. He can also operate at
Full back and
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 ...
. In his early career he caught the eye with his notable 'outside breaks', opening up defences and creating chances. His creative play has been noted for deceptive strength, slick handling
and quick foot work.
At club level De Luca began as an apprentice with
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 ...
in 2005 before joining
Border Reivers
Border Reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality.Hay, D. "E ...
for the 2006–07 season. Following the region's dissolution in 2007 he returned to Edinburgh.
[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 ...]
to touch down, and he also contributed a spellbinding effort during the dramatic win at
later on that year.
tournaments in Canada and England respectively.
internationalist, De Luca is the joint all-time leading try scorer for the Scotland under-21 team. He shares this honour with
.
Having already represented Scotland at all age-grade levels as well as 'A' level,
.
. De Luca held on to his position for the following game against
.
He had a difficult introduction to international rugby as he struggled throughout the 2008 RBS 6 Nations as part of an under-used and ineffective Scottish backline from which he has done well to recover.