Tom Farrell (born 1 October 1993) is an Irish rugby union player. He primarily plays as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

. Farrell currently plays for Irish provincial side

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 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 ...

. He has previously played for English club

Bedford Blues Bedford Blues are a semi-professional rugby union club in the town of Bedford, England, currently playing in the RFU Championship. History Foundation and 19th century Bedford RUFC was founded in 1886 after an amalgamation between Bedford Rove ...

in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

as well as the

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

'A' team, and came through the

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 ...

academy.

Club career

Early career

Farrell joined the

academy ahead of the 2013–14 season. During his time in the academy, Farrell featured for the province's second tier side,

Leinster A Leinster Rugby () is one of the four professional provincial club rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Leinster Branch, one of t ...

, in the

British and Irish Cup The British and Irish Cup was an annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs and the reserves or developing teams from professional clubs from Great Britain and Ireland. It took place for the first time in the 2009� ...

. He made a total of seven appearances for the side and scored a try against

Carmarthen Quins Carmarthen Quins Rugby Football Club () are one of two Welsh rugby union clubs based in Carmarthen in West Wales, the other being Carmarthen Athletic. They currently play in the Super Rygbi Cymru and are a feeder club for the Scarlets regional ...

. Farrell also played senior rugby for All-Ireland League club Lansdowne, and was named the league's "Rising Star of the Month" for March 2015. Farrell moved to

in 2016 and was part of the club's A-League squad for the end of the 2015–16 season.

Bedford

In May 2016 Farrell signed with

English Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divis ...

club

, joining them ahead of the 2016–17 season. He made his debut for the side against

Jersey Reds Jersey Reds was a rugby union club based in Jersey, Channel Islands. On 28th September 2023, the club ceased trading and shortly thereafter went into liquidation following the withdrawal of financial support from a key investor. Until seaso ...

on 11 September 2016. Farrell made 12 appearances for the Blues, with his final appearance coming against

, before departing the club mid-season to return to Ireland.

Connacht

In January 2017, Farrell returned to Ireland after signing for the reigning

Pro12 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 ...

champions

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 ...

. Due to an injury crisis at centre, he immediately was added to the team's squad for the European Champions Cup.

Munster

For the 2024-25 season, Farrell made the short trip to

Thomond Park Thomond Park is a stadium in Limerick in the Irish province of Munster. The stadium is owned by the Munster Rugby and has Shannon RFC and UL Bohemian RFC as tenants. Limerick FC played home games in Thomond Park from 2013 to 2015 in the Le ...

to join provincial rivals

. He made his competitive Munster debut against his former team

on the 21st September 2024 in the opening round of the 2024-25 United Rugby Championship season. He scored his first try for Munster in the province's 3rd round of the URC fixture against

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, helping them to a 23-0 victory over the Welsh side. He made a try scoring Champions Cup debut in

against Parisian side

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in their first pool match of the Champions cup, helping Munster to a 33-7 victory .

International career

Farrell has represented Ireland internationally at under-age level. He was part of the Ireland under-20 squad for the 2013 Junior World Championship. He played in two of the team's three pool matches, starting in the victory over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and scoring a try in the defeat 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 ...

. Ireland finished second in their pool and Farrell started in the side's two knockout games against

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and Australia, with Ireland ultimately finishing eighth overall. Farrell was named in the squad for the opening rounds of the 2019 Six Nations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farrell, Tom 1993 births Living people Bedford Blues players Connacht Rugby players Leinster Rugby players Rugby union centres Irish rugby union players Lansdowne Football Club players People educated at Castleknock College