Rory Burke (27 April 1994 – 9 August 2024) was 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. He played as a

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 ...

and previously represented Cork Constitution,

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 ...

and

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

and

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 ...

Cork Constitution

Having been educated at Christian Brothers College, Cork, Burke began playing for Cork Constitution in the Ulster Bank All-Ireland League and was part of the Con team that won the 2014 Bateman Cup.

Professional career

Munster

On 29 April 2017, Burke made his competitive debut for Munster when he came off the bench to replace Stephen Archer in the provinces 14–34 away victory against

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 ...

in Round 21 of the

2016–17 Pro12 The 2016–17 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the sixteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the seventh with a four-country format. It was t ...

season.

Nottingham

On 16 May 2017, it was announced that Burke had joined English

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

side

Nottingham R.F.C. Nottingham Rugby Club is a rugby union club based in Nottingham, England. The club's first team currently plays in the RFU Championship, the second tier of English Rugby. The first XV are nicknamed The Archers, in reference to the famous Robin ...

on a one-year deal, which commenced during the pre-season of the 2017–18 season.

Connacht

Burke returned to Ireland to join

ahead of the 2019–20 season, in a move announced in May 2019. He was released by Connacht in June 2020.

Death

Burke died on 9 August 2024, at the age of 30.

References

External links

Munster ProfileU20 Six Nations Profile
1994 births 2024 deaths Rugby union players from Cork (city) Irish rugby union players Cork Constitution players Munster Rugby players Nottingham R.F.C. players Connacht Rugby players Rugby union props People educated at Christian Brothers College, Cork {{ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub