Samuel Hidalgo-Clyne (born 4 August 1993) is a Scottish rugby union player who plays for

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

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. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

. His primary position is as a scrum-half.

Early life

Born in Jayena, Granada, Spain, Hidalgo-Clyne moved to Edinburgh at the age of three. He began playing rugby at primary school for

Forrester RFC Forrester RFC is a rugby union football club in the Scottish Rugby Union, located at South Gyle Access in Edinburgh. They play in the , one of three Scottish Regional Leagues operated by the Scottish Rugby Union. History Forrester Former Pupi ...

and continued there when he started his secondary schooling at the Royal High School. Having gained a scholarship, he attended

Merchiston Castle School Merchiston Castle School is an independent boarding school for boys in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has around 470 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 7 and 18 as either boarding or day pupils; it was modelled ...

where he played as a stand-off before being selected as a scrum-half.

Club career

Hidalgo-Clyne specialised in international sevens for the 2011–12 season and joined Edinburgh's elite development roster in the summer of 2012. Hidalgo-Clyne was awarded a place on the 2013 Macphail Scholarship to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. Upon his return, Hidalgo-Clyne put himself in contention for a place in the senior squad and made his debut against

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following th ...

in September 2013. His first try for the club came in the opening minute of Edinburgh's 48–0 defeat of Benetton Treviso in December 2014. At the end of the 2014–15 season, Hidalgo-Clyne was named the Pro12 Young Player of the Year. After seven seasons with Edinburgh, Hidalgo-Clyne left the club to join Welsh region

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 the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

from the 2018-19 season. He left Scarlets early to join French giants

Racing 92 Racing 92 () is a French rugby union club based in suburban Paris that was formed in 2001 with the collaboration of the Racing Club de France and US Métro. They were called Racing Métro 92 between 2001 and 2015, when they changed the name t ...

in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

as cover during 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 match ...

Afterwards, Hidalgo-Clyne signed a short-term contract with

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

until the end of the 2018-19 season. On 17 February 2020, Hidalgo-Clyne agreed to move to

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an 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 its home m ...

in the English Gallagher Premiership on a two-year deal from 2020-21 season. On 3 February 2022, Hidalgo-Clyne would leave Exeter as he signs for Italy region Benetton on a three-year deal in the

ahead of the 2022-23 season.

International career

Hidalgo-Clyne made his full

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

debut on Saturday 7 February 2015, coming off the replacements' bench in a 15–8 defeat to France in 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 ...

, and did so again in each of the remaining four matches. Hidalgo-Clyne has also represented Scotland under-17, under-18, under-20 and Scotland Sevens.

References

External links

profile
on Edinburgh Rugby
profile
on Scottish Rugby {{DEFAULTSORT:Hidalgo-Clyne, Sam 1993 births Living people Edinburgh Rugby players Exeter Chiefs players Forrester RFC players Harlequin F.C. players Male rugby sevens players People educated at Merchiston Castle School Scotland international rugby sevens players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish people of Spanish descent Scottish rugby union players Scarlets players Racing 92 players Lyon OU players Benetton Rugby players