University College Dublin Rugby Football Club (also referred as UCD) is a rugby union club based in Dublin, Ireland, and plays in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. They play their home games at UCD Bowl.
The club was founded in 1910 and they won their first trophy, the Leinster Junior Challenge Cup, in 1914. In 1924 they won their first Leinster Club Senior Cup. Since 1952 they have also played an annual challenge game, the Colours Match against their rivals Dublin University. In 1993 when the AIB League was expanded to four divisions to include 46 senior clubs, UCD and four other university clubs joined the league.
In 2001 UCD won the AIB League Division 2 title, gaining promotion to Division 1. They have continued to play in the same division until the 2008–09 season when they finished second from bottom and were relegated. They were the first Irish university rugby club to play in AIB League top division and have now been joined by rivals Dublin University Football Club.
Notable players
Ireland national rugby union team
In 1920 Andy Courtney became the first UCD player to represent the Ireland national rugby union team. The following UCD players also represented Ireland at full international level.
Barry Bresnihan
Eugene Davy
Mick Doyle
Tony Ensor
Tom Grace
Harry Harbison
Denis Hickie
Rob Kearney
Dan Leavy
Fergus McFadden
Luke McGrath
Kevin McLaughlin
Ray McLoughlin
Seán O'Brien
Brian O'Driscoll
Kevin O'Flanagan
Darragh O'Mahony
Garry Ringrose
Rhys Ruddock
Ciaran Scally
Fergus Slattery
James Tracy
Josh van der Flier
Paddy Wallace
British & Irish Lions
In 1959 Niall Brophy and Bill Mulcahy become the first UCD players to represent the British & Irish Lions. Since then several UCD players have also played for the Lions.
Niall Brophy: 1959, 1962
Bill Mulcahy: 1959
Barry Bresnihan: 1966, 1968
Ray McLoughlin: 1966
Mick Doyle: 1968
Fergus Slattery: 1971, 1974
Tom Grace: 1974
Denis Hickie: 2005
Brian O'Driscoll: 2001, 2005, 2009, 2013
Rob Kearney: 2009, 2013
Seán O'Brien: 2013, 2017
Ireland national rugby sevens team
Harry McNulty
Billy Dardis
Hugo Keenan
Other internationals
The following UCD players have also played at international level.
David Hewett
Vasily Artemiev
Stefan Obradovic
Ben Barclay
Jamie Jane
Sean O'Neill
Ian McKinley
See also
Honours
All-Ireland Cup
1937–38
Leinster Senior Cup
1923–24, 1937–38, 1947–48, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1969–70, 1976–77, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2019–20: 11 Leinster Junior Challenge Cup 1914: 1