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

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

in the

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 ...

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

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

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 ...

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 in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

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

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 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 National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

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 matc ...

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

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

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 England, 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 i ...

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. He played for Benetton until

2023–24 United Rugby Championship The 2023–24 United Rugby Championship was the 23rd season of the professional rugby union competition known as the United Rugby Championship, and the third season under that name. It began on 21 October 2023 and ended on 22 June 2024. The reig ...

season.

International career

Hidalgo-Clyne made his full

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 ...

debut on Saturday 7 February 2015, coming off the replacements' bench in a 15–8 defeat to France in the 2015 Six Nations Championship, 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 Rugby players Benetton Rugby players 2015 Rugby World Cup players Rugby union scrum-halves Scottish expatriate rugby union players in France Scottish expatriate rugby union players in Italy