Shane Patrick Horgan (born 18 July 1978) is an Irish former

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

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 ...

or centre for

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Early life

Horgan was born on 18 July 1978 in Bellewstown, County Meath, to an Irish mother, Ursula (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Campbell) from

County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...

and a New Zealand father, John. His maternal grandparents were from Midfield, County Mayo. He has three older sisters, Maria,

Sharon Sharon ( 'plain'), also spelled Saron, is a given name as well as a Hebrew name. In Anglosphere, English-speaking areas, Sharon is now predominantly a feminine given name, but historically it was also used as a masculine given name. In Israel, ...

, and Lorraine, and one younger brother, Mark. In his youth, he played for Boyne RFC. He also played

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

at minor (U18) level with the Meath county team. He was educated at a boys' Catholic school, St Mary's Diocesan School in

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

, and was a member of their rugby team. He joined Lansdowne on leaving school in 1997.

Club career

Horgan made his debut for Leinster in 1998. He played for Leinster 87 times in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

, ranking fifth in career Heineken Cup appearances. He scored 27 tries during his Heineken Cup career, ranking him eighth (as of 22 February 2023) on the list of most career tries scored in Heineken Cup competition. His most prolific Heineken Cup season was 2004–05, when Horgan was the leading try scorer with eight tries. He was a member of a Leinster backline which included

Brian O'Driscoll Brian Gerard O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at outside Centre (rugby union), centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster Rugby, Leinster and for Ireland national rugby union te ...

, Gordon D'Arcy, Denis Hickie, Felipe Contepomi, Isa Nacewa, Rob Kearney and

Johnny Sexton Jonathan Jeremiah Sexton (born 11 July 1985) is an Irish former professional rugby union player who played as a Fly-half (rugby union), fly-half and Captain (sports), captained the Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland national team from ...

International career

Horgan made his debut for the Ireland senior side 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 ...

in the 2000 Six Nations Championship, scoring a try in the process. In the following game 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 ...

he scored two tries and added another one against

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 tournament. He was selected for the 2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand. He was used as a substitute during all three tests. After scoring the winning try against England at Twickenham in the

2006 Six Nations Championship The 2006 Six Nations Championship was the seventh series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship to be held since the competition expanded in 2000 to include Italy national rugby union team, Italy. Including the previous incarnations as the Ho ...

to secure the Triple Crown for the second time in three years, he became a new national hero. Horgan added to his following in 2007 when he scored a try against England in

Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...

by executing a

style catch from a

Ronan O'Gara Ronan John Ross O'Gara (born 7 March 1977) is an Irish former rugby union player and current coach. O'Gara played as a fly-half and is Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland's third most-capped player and second highest points scorer. He i ...

crossfield kick. Horgan is known by the Irish media and rugby fans as "Shaggy". Horgan showed a return to something near the levels of performance of his earlier career in early 2011, but injury towards the end of the club season forced him to miss out on the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

. On 28 March 2012, Horgan announced his retirement with immediate effect having failed to regain full fitness following surgery on a long-term knee injury.

Honours

;Individual *Leinster all-time leading try scorer: (69) *Leinster Supporter's Player Player of the Year (1): 2010–11 ;Leinster * Celtic League (2): 2001–02, 2007–08 *

(2): 2008–09, 2010–11 ;Ireland * Six Nations (1):

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Personal life

Horgan studied law at Portobello College. He is completing a master's degree at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. As of 2016, he was working as a trainee solicitor at Lee & Thompsonhttp://www.leeandthompson.com/our-people/#Shane Horgan in London, while appearing on

RTÉ Sport RTÉ Sport is a department of Irish public broadcaster RTÉ. The department provides sporting coverage through a number of platforms including RTÉ Radio, RTÉ Television, RTÉ.ie, RTÉ Player, RTÉ Player Sport and RTÉ.ie, RTÉ Mobile. RTÉ h ...

as an analyst in their rugby coverage. After leaving RTÉ Sport, he joined TV3 for the station's Six Nations coverage.

References

External links

Leinster profile
(archived 2007)
Ireland profile
(archived 2007)

(archived 2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:Horgan, Shane 1978 births Living people Gaelic footballers who switched code Gaelic games players from County Meath Ireland international rugby union players Irish people of English descent Irish people of New Zealand descent Irish rugby union players Lansdowne Football Club players Leinster Rugby players Rugby union players from County Meath Rugby union wings British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2007 Rugby World Cup players