 Roche attempts a conversion during the Ireland's quarter-final matchup against Fiji at the 2024 Summer Olympics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 25 January 1993 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Height | 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 89 kg (196 lb) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Professional rugby player | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Mark Roche (born 25 January 1993) [1] is an Irish rugby union player. He plays for the Ireland national rugby sevens team as a scrum-half.
In his youth, Roche played with Blackrock. [2] He then went on to play for the Ireland under-20 national team in the 2013 IRB Junior World Championship. [3] He was also part of the Lansdowne team that was crowned 2015 All-Ireland League Division 1A champions, scoring a try in the final against Clontarf. [4]
Roche has played as a scrum-half for the Ireland national rugby sevens team since 2015. Roche played for Ireland in the 2017 Rugby Europe Grand Prix, helping Ireland qualify for the 2018 Hong Kong qualifier and the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens. [5]
Roche was part of the Ireland team that reached the semifinals of the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens qualifier for the 2018–19 World Rugby Sevens Series. [6] He started at scrum-half for the Ireland team that finished third at the 2018 London Sevens; Roche was selected to the tournament Dream Team at the conclusion of the tournament. [7] He competed for Ireland at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town. [8]
He represented Ireland at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. [9] [10]
Rugby sevens is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. Rugby sevens is administered by World Rugby, the body responsible for rugby union worldwide. The game is popular at all levels, with amateur and club tournaments generally held in the summer months. Sevens is one of the most well distributed forms of rugby, and is popular in parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and especially in the South Pacific.
Simon Daniel Edward Amor is an English rugby union coach and former player. Amor played in the scrum-half and fly-half positions for London Scottish and captained the England national rugby sevens team. He has been the head coach of London Scottish, England sevens, Hong Kong, and, as recently as 2020, was appointed defence-coach for the England rugby union team.
Lansdowne Football Club, is a rugby union team based in Dublin, Ireland. Called Football Club instead of Rugby Football Club due to being founded before the formation of the IRFU. It was founded in 1872 by Henry Dunlop as the Irish Champion Athletic Club. Its senior team currently plays in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. The club's playing colours are black, red and yellow hoops, with navy shorts.
The German national rugby sevens team competes in the top-level European sevens competition, the Sevens Grand Prix Series. In 2012, Germany finished eleventh out of twelve teams and avoided relegation. The team also unsuccessfully took part in the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying tournament in Moscow in July 2012.
The Ireland national rugby sevens team competes in several international rugby sevens competitions. The team is governed by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU).
The English women's national rugby sevens team has competed in the Hong Kong Women's Sevens tournaments since 1997. England are also one of six teams announced by the International Rugby Board as "core teams" that will compete in all four rounds of the inaugural IRB Women's Sevens World Series in 2012–13. England won the bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Vaea Naufahu Anitoni is an American former rugby union player who played wing. Anitoni is the all-time leading try scorer for the U.S. national team. Anitoni played for the United States national team from 1992 to 2000. During that period, Anitoni played in 46 matches, starting 44, and scored 26 tries, a record which still stands today.
Nate Augspurger is an American rugby union player from Minneapolis, Minnesota who plays scrum-half for the Chicago Hounds in Major League Rugby (MLR).
Billy Dardis is an Irish rugby union player. He is the captain of the Ireland national rugby sevens team, and also plays for Terenure College RFC in Division 1A of the All Ireland League.
Jordan Conroy is an Irish rugby union player. He is a specialist sevens player who plays for the Ireland national rugby sevens team, and has represented Ireland in the 2020 Summer Olympics and plays his XV's club rugby with the Buccaneers RFC as a wing.
Harry McNulty is an Irish rugby union player who currently plays for the LA Giltinis of Major League Rugby (MLR). He also plays as a forward for the Ireland national rugby sevens team.
Ian Fitzpatrick is an Irish rugby union player. In rugby sevens, he plays as a forward for the Ireland national rugby sevens team. Fitzpatrick began playing rugby sevens in 2015 while with Lansdowne. He was a member of the Irish sevens team that finished second in the 2017 Sevens Grand Prix Series, qualifying for the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens and the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens. Fitzpatrick played for Ireland at the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens qualifier, where Ireland fell to Japan 12–7 in the semifinals and failed in their quest to qualify for the 2018–19 World Series.
Terry Kennedy is an Irish rugby union player who has played for the Ireland national rugby sevens team since 2016.
Gregory O'Shea is an Irish rugby union player. He played for the Ireland national rugby sevens team, usually as a fly-half. In July 2019, O'Shea partnered with Amber Gill won the fifth series of Love Island.
Adam Leavy is a rugby union player. He plays for the Ireland national rugby sevens team as a forward.
Christy Gunn is a Hong Kong rugby union player. She represented Hong Kong when they debuted at the 2017 Rugby World Cup in Ireland.
Agnes Chan Tsz-ching is a Hong Kong rugby union and sevens player. She competed for Hong Kong in the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup in Ireland.
Tammy Lau Nga-wun is a Hong Kong rugby union player. She competed for Hong Kong when they debuted at the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup in Dublin.
Scott Nichol is a former Scotland international rugby union player. He played at Fly-half and Centre.
Kathy Baker is an Irish rugby union player. She was selected as part of the Ireland national rugby sevens team for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
