Shane Jennings (born 8 July 1981) is an Irish former professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player. He played at openside flanker for

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Laighean) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He was also registered to St Mary's College.

Club career

Jennings impressed for Leinster in the

2004–05 Heineken Cup The 2004–05 Heineken Cup was the tenth edition of the Heineken Cup. Competing teams, from England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales, were divided into six pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other. T ...

when

Keith Gleeson Keith Gleeson (born 21 June 1976) is a retired Irish Australian rugby union football player. Early life Gleeson was born in Dublin, Ireland, before moving to Australia with his family as a child. Raised in Sydney, Australia, Gleeson attend ...

was injured, however Gleeson returned from injury for the quarter final with

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its ho ...

, having had no previous game time. Leicester had previously identified Jennings as a threat. After the game which Leicester won 29–13, Leicester's retiring openside

Neil Back Neil Antony Back MBE (born 16 January 1969) is a former international rugby union footballer for England and the British & Irish Lions who also played for Nottingham RFC, Leicester Tigers, and captained both England and Leicester during his c ...

approached Jennings and offered to open contract negotiations. He signed for Leicester for the 2006 season, along with fellow Leinster forward Leo Cullen, winning the English Premiership in 2007 and scoring a try in the final. He re-signed for Leinster on a three-year contract for the start of the 2007/8 season winning the Magners League in 2008 and European Cup in 2009. In October 2009 he was banned for twelve weeks for making contact with the eye area of

Nick Kennedy Nick Kennedy (born 19 August 1982) is a retired English rugby union player and former Director of Rugby at London Irish. He played Lock for England, London Irish, Toulon and Harlequins. His uncle Duncan Kennedy is a BBC news correspondent. K ...

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

in the first round of the Heineken Cup. On 19 February 2015 Jennings announced he would retire at the end of the 2014-15 season.

International career

Jennings's international ambitions were hampered largely due to a surplus of quality Irish back row forwards during his playing career. He was named in the Irish squad for the Summer tour of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

and earned his first cap on 2 June 2007. Jennings was called into the Ireland A side that was defeated by

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

on 1 February 2008. He wasn't initially named in Ireland's squad for 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 International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South ...

, but was then called up after an injury to David Wallace. At the World Cup against Russia he scored his only international try. Jennings achieved 13 test caps throughout his career, his last coming against Scotland in the

2012 Six Nations The 2012 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2012 RBS 6 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 13th series of the Six Nations Championship. The annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship was ...

Honours

;Leinster *

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken 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 ...

(3): 2008-09, 2010-11, 2011-12 *

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...

(1): 2012-13 *

Pro12 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 ...

(3): 2007-08, 2012-13, 2013-14 ;Leicester *

English Premiership The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

(1): 2006-07

Outside Rugby

Jennings grew up in Cremorne in Knocklyon, Co. Dublin, but moved to Rathfarnham with his mother Joan(and his two brothers) and her partner Norman Young when his parents separated in the early 1990's. Jennings earned a BA in Business Studies in Portobello College and an MBA with the

Dublin Business School Dublin Business School (DBS), incorporating Portobello College, is a private college in Ireland. With over 9,000 students, DBS provides full-time and part-time undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in business, law, accounting, event man ...

.Shane Jennings profile
About Rugby Players Ireland www.rugbyplayersireland.ie

References

External links

Leinster profile
*
IRFU profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Shane 1981 births Living people St Mary's College RFC players Leinster Rugby players Leicester Tigers players Rugby union flankers Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Barbarian F.C. players Ireland Wolfhounds international rugby union players Alumni of Dublin Business School People educated at St Mary's College, Dublin