Date of birth | 14 February 1985 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Place of birth | Douglas, Cork, Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 108 kg (17.0 st; 238 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Christian Brothers College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
University | University College Cork | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ross Noonan (born 14 February 1985) is an Irish former rugby union player.
Born in Douglas, Cork, Noonan first began playing rugby for Cork club Dolphin's underage teams. [1] He attended Christian Brothers College and played Munster Schools Rugby Senior Cup for the school, captaining them to Bowen Shield victories in 2001 and 2003. He was part the UCC under-20s team that won the All-Ireland Under-20 League during the 2004–05 season and played for the sides senior team during the 2005–06 season, before joining Cork Constitution ahead of the 2006–07 season. [2]
Noonan represented Munster at under-21 level in 2004 and 2005, and joined the newly created Munster academy in 2004. He was awarded the John McCarthy Award for Munster Academy Player of the Year for the 2005–06 season, [2] and made his competitive senior debut for the province on 1 September 2006, when he started in their 22–13 defeat against Welsh side Cardiff Blues whilst still in the academy. [3]
Having found first team opportunities limited at Munster, Noonan left the province ahead of the 2007–08 season and moved to England to join Bedford Blues, who were coached by Mike Rayer and played in National Division 1. [4] [5]
Noonan joined Birmingham & Solihull, better known as Pertemps Bees, from Bedford Blues, [6] though his time with the club was hampered by injury. [7]
After being released by Pertemps Bees, Noonan joined Rotherham on a trial, but struggled to break into the first XV. He spent some time on loan to Hull Ionians, and Stourbridge expressed interest in signing Noonan to help in their relegation battle. [8]
Noonan was part of the Ireland Schools team that won a grand slam in 2003, and he went on to represent Ireland under-19s at the 2004 U19 World Championship, and Ireland under-21s at the 2005 and 2006 U21 World Championships. [2]
After ending his rugby career in 2012, Noonan joined Capgemini, before joining Berkeley Group Holdings.
Craig Minto Chalmers is a former Scotland international rugby union player and coach. He represented Scotland, the British Lions and the Barbarians at international level. He made 60 international appearances as a player for the Scotland national team and scored 166 points. He played at fly-half with his playing career beginning at Melrose in the amateur era and with the professional era seeing him play Border Reivers and Glasgow Warriors before moving on to English sides Harlequins, Worcester Warriors and Pertemp Bees. He had coaching roles with Melrose and the Scotland national under-20 rugby union team. He later has had a business career in security.
The Cork Constitution (CC) is a rugby union club based in Cork, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. It was founded by staff of the Cork Constitution newspaper. Since the paper did not publish on Sundays, the staff were looking for activities to pursue on Saturday afternoons. In the summer, cricket was played, while in the winter, rugby was the designated activity. The team currently plays in Temple Hill, Ballintemple.
The 2005–06 National Division One was the 19th full season of rugby union within the second tier of the English league system, currently known as the RFU Championship. New teams to the division included Harlequins who had been relegated from the 2004–05 Zurich Premiership, while Doncaster and Newbury were promoted from the 2004–05 National Division Two. Additional changes saw Penzance & Newyln RFC rebrand themselves as the Cornish Pirates as well as moving from their home ground, the Mennaye Field in Penzance, to a more central location in Truro at the Kenwyn Rugby Ground with the aim to appeal more to Cornish fans on the whole as well as making home games more accessible. Rotherham Titans also rebranded themselves as 'Earth Titans' for sponsorship purposes for this season.
Birmingham & Solihull Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union club based in Portway, Birmingham.
Dónal Óg Cusack is an Irish hurling coach and hurler who plays for Cork Premier Championship club Cloyne. He played for the Cork senior hurling team for 16 seasons, during which time he usually lined out as a goalkeeper. Noted for his innovative and sometimes controversial approach as a player and his championing of the cause of player welfare, Cusack is also regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation.
Nick Baxter is an English rugby union player who has represented England Students, England Sevens and the Barbarians. He is the leading try scorer in national league rugby, scoring his 150th try for Pertemps Bees versus Doncaster in April 2006. He was a member of the England Sevens team in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games. Nick has currently played for three different National league sides; Worcester Warriors, Pertemps Bees and Stourbridge playing most of his career in the RFU Championship. At the end of the 05/06 season Nick Baxter left Pertemps Bees to join National Division 2 club Stourbridge.
Russell Dean Earnshaw is a rugby union coach currently working in sport and business with the Magic Academy.
James Coughlan is a retired Irish rugby union player and current coach. Coughlan played primarily as a number 8 and represented Cork-based amateur club Dolphin in the All-Ireland League, his native province Munster and French club Pau, and, internationally, Ireland Wolfhounds and the Ireland 7s team during his career.
Simon Hunt is an English rugby union footballer and Director of Rugby for Old Bristolians having most recently played for Dings Crusaders. Simon has played club rugby in England, France and Wales and is known as a prolific try scorer who can also point kick. He also has international pedigree, having played at youth level for England as well as being centrally contracted to the England Sevens squad for the 2011–2012 IRB Sevens World Series. Outside of rugby Simon holds 87th fastest time for a 2000m indoor row. He is now working as a PE teacher.
The 2008-09 National Division Two was the ninth and final version of the third division of the English rugby union league system using the name National Division Two. The RFU was planning to introduced a new professionalized format of the second division for the 2009-10 season which would lead to widespread league changes throughout the English league system including National Two being renamed National One and being increased from the 14 teams to 16 teams – a decision they made halfway through the season. New teams to the division included Birmingham & Solihull and Launceston who were relegated from the 2007–08 National Division One while promoted teams included Tynedale coming up from the 2007–08 National Division Three North while Mounts Bay (champions) and Cinderford (playoffs) both from the 2007–08 National Division Three South.
George Crook is an English rugby union player for Birmingham & Solihull in The Championship and Worcester Warriors in the Guinness Premiership.
Rod Petty is a former Australian professional rugby union player. A scrum half, he is currently a player-coach for Birmingham and Solihull R.F.C. in English National Division 2 North.
Mark Woodrow is an English rugby union player-coach for Dings Crusaders currently playing in the English National League 3 South West. His position of choice is fly-half. Mark has played for eleven English national league clubs in addition to appearing for both Paternope (Naples) and later Viadana in the Italian leagues. He is a former England Counties XV international and has previously been involved with England Sevens. Renowned as a prolific and highly accurate points kicker, over his career he has made 300 appearances in English club rugby, scoring 2,613 points as of the end of the 2014-15 season.
Will Radburn is an English rugby union footballer for Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C. His primary position is Hooker.
Jack Preece is a professional rugby union player for Cinderford in National League 1. Preece plays at both openside flanker and hooker and is well known as an out 'n' out ball stealer. Prior to signing for Coventry Preece played his part in two season with Gloucestershire U20's, becoming top try scorer and helping them win the Counties final 2yrs running. He then spent a season with Gloucestershire seniors, again reaching the final at Twickenham. Preece is a former England Counties XV cap, making his debut off the bench versus a Madrid XV in 2011 and went on to play In all 3 games including Spain and was named player of the tournament. During this time (2007-2012) Preece played for Birmingham and Solihull RFC for 5 seasons, from the age of 17, scoring on his debut at just 18yrs old and becoming the youngest try score at level 2 at that time, he then went on to captain the side for the 2011–2012 season, and during his time there he made 104 appearances and won player's player and supporter's player of the year in consecutive years. He also spent a year as a centrally contracted player with England Sevens. He made his debut for England Sevens in the first leg of the European Sevens Grand Prix Series in June 2012 in Lyon. Whilst playing for England Sevens in the Moscow leg of the same series Preece suffered a serious ACL injury which required reconstructive surgery and ruled him out of adding to his England appearances during 2012.
Benjamin John Harvey is a rugby union coach and former player from Redruth, England.
The North Midlands Rugby Football Union is a governing body for rugby union in part of The Midlands, England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union for the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and the Greater Birmingham area.
Rory Parata is an Australian-born Irish professional rugby union player. He primarily plays as a centre. As of 2021, Parata plays for English side Cornish Pirates in the RFU Championship. He previously played for Irish provincial side Connacht, having come through the team's academy, and Zebre.
Jack O'Sullivan is an Irish rugby union player who plays as a flanker or number eight for United Rugby Championship club Munster.
Seán French is an Irish rugby union player for English RFU Championship club Bedford Blues. He plays as a centre, wing or fullback.