Stephen Fitzgerald (born 13 November 1995) 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 for his native province

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

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 ...

during his career. Fitzgerald played primarily as a fullback, but could also play on either

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 ...

, and represented Shannon in the All-Ireland League.

Early life

Born in

Ardnacrusha Ardnacrusha () is a village in County Clare, Ireland, located on the northern bank of the River Shannon. By road, it is north of Limerick. The name derives from the phrase ''Ard na Croise'' meaning "the height of the cross", due to a large cro ...

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

, Fitzgerald first began playing rugby aged 7 with Shannon. He attended

Ardscoil Rís, Limerick Ardscoil Rís is a voluntary, all-boys, Roman Catholic secondary school in Limerick, Ireland. Founded in 1963, it is located on the North Circular Road. History Ardscoil Rís was formally opened by the Christian Brothers, on the North Circula ...

and lost finals at both Junior and

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

Cup level with the school. He represented Munster in all under-age grades, as well as playing Under-19s and Under-20s with Ireland.

Professional career

Munster

Fitzgerald made his debut for Munster on 13 September 2015, starting in the second game of the 2015–16 Pro12 against Ospreys and scoring a try. On 1 June 2017, it was announced that Fitzgerald had been promoted to the senior Munster squad ahead of the 2017–18 season. He signed a one-year development contract extension with Munster in February 2018.

Bond University

Having been injured for much of the 2016–17 season, Fitzgerald and then-fellow Munster Academy teammate JP Phelan played for Australian side

Bond University Rugby Club The Bond University Rugby Club is an Australian rugby union football club that competes in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition. The club is based at the Bond University campus on Queensland's Gold Coast. Bond University entered into a par ...

in the

Queensland Premier Rugby Queensland Premier Rugby is a semi professional club rugby union competition in Queensland, Australia. Nine clubs play in the competition, eight clubs are from Brisbane, and one club is from Gold Coast.The premiership has been contested in i ...

competition. He made one appearance for the side, in round 10 against Sunnybank, but injured his hand and returned home soon after.

Connacht

Fitzgerald joined Irish province

, where his younger brother

Conor Conor is a male given name of Irish origin. The meaning of the name is "Lover of Wolves" or "Lover of Hounds". '' Conchobhar/Conchubhar'' or from the name ''Conaire'', found in Irish legend as the name of the high king Conaire Mór and other her ...

was an academy player at the time, on a three-month loan deal in December 2018. He made his debut for Connacht in their 21–12 win against

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

in round 12 of the

2018–19 Pro14 The 2018–19 Pro14 (also known as the '' Guinness Pro14'' for sponsorship reasons) is the eighteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the second season to be referred to as the '' ...

on 28 December 2018, replacing Kyle Godwin in the 63rd minute. Fitzgerald's loan was extended until the end of the 2018–19 season in March 2019. Fitzgerald joined Connacht permanently for the 2019–20 season.

Retirement

A knee injury sustained in Connacht's fixture against

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 ...

in January 2020, for which Fitzgerald underwent three surgeries, forced Fitzgerald to retire from playing rugby at the end of the 2020–21 season.

Ireland

Fitzgerald made his debut for Ireland Under-20s on 13 February 2015, starting against France Under-20s in the 2015 U20 Six Nations and scoring a try. He also represented Ireland Under-20s at the

2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the eighth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised for the second time in Italy by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations played i ...

, scoring two tries against Scotland Under-20s on 20 June 2015.

References

External links

Connacht ProfileMunster ProfilePro14 Profile
*
U20 Six Nations Profile
Living people 1995 births People educated at Ardscoil Rís, Limerick Alumni of the University of Limerick Irish rugby union players Rugby union players from County Clare Shannon RFC players Munster Rugby players Connacht Rugby players Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union wings {{ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub