Ultan Dillane (born 9 November 1993) is an Irish

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. He plays for

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

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 ...

which is the top tier of rugby union in France. Dillane primarily plays as a

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

Early life

Dillane was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

to an Irish mother. His father is from the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

. At the age of seven, Dillane moved to Ireland, settling in

Tralee Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...

in his mother's native county of Kerry. Dillane attended St Mary's Christian Brothers School in Tralee.

Early career

Dillane first played rugby for his local club Tralee RFC. Invited to play by a neighbour, but reluctant to take up the sport at first, Dillane and his brother were promised €5 by their mother if they went. While with Tralee, Dillane was involved in the youth set up of his local provincial team,

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 ...

. Dillane left the Munster set up however, and joined the academy of

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 ...

Club rugby

Dillane came into the Connacht academy for the 2012–13 season. In the 2014–15 season, while still a third year academy player, Dillane made his Connacht debut. He came on as a replacement in a provincial derby against Connacht's Irish rivals

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 ...

on 19 December 2014, and followed this up with his first start, which came 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 ...

, another Irish province, on 26 December. On 1 January, Dillane was a replacement in another Irish derby, playing against his native province of Munster. Following his performances in these games, Dillane was awarded a senior contract with Connacht, to run until the summer of 2017. In December 2021, it was announced that Dillane would leave Connacht at the end of the season. The following year he agreed a two-year contract with La Rochelle, to start with the prominent French club in the 2022–23 season.

International career

Dillane received his first senior

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 ...

call up from coach Joe Schmidt as part of the squad for the

2016 Six Nations The 2016 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2016 RBS 6 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by The Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 17th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. It ...

. He made his international debut as a replacement in the third round match against England on 27 February 2016.

Honours

Pro 12 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 ...

: Winner 2015-16 *

European Rugby Champions 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 pr ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

External links

Pro12 Profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dillane, Ultan 1993 births Living people Alumni of the University of Galway Connacht Rugby players French people of Irish descent French sportspeople of Ivorian descent French rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Irish rugby union players Rugby union players from County Kerry Irish people of Ivorian descent Rugby union players from Paris Black Irish sportspeople 21st-century Irish sportsmen Rugby union locks Stade Rochelais players