Billy Dardis

Billy Dardis (born 31 January 1995) is an Irish rugby union player. He is the captain of the Ireland national rugby sevens team, and also plays for UCD in Division 1A of the All Ireland League.[1]

Billy Dardis
Birth nameWilliam Dardis
Date of birth (1995-01-31) 31 January 1995
Place of birthDublin, Ireland
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight87 kg (13 st 10 lb; 192 lb)
SchoolNewbridge College
Terenure College
UniversityUniversity College Dublin
Rugby union career
Position(s) Scrum-half (7s);
Fullback (15s)
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
2013– UCD ()
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2016–2017 Leinster 0 (0)
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
2014–2015 Ireland U20 10 (15)
Correct as of 20 June 2015
National sevens team(s)
Years Team Comps
2015– Ireland 7s

Youth

In his youth, Dardis played rugby with Naas RFC. In secondary school, Dardis initially played for Newbridge College in Kildare, where he also played Gaelic football. Dardis switched to Terenure College, where he focused on rugby, and he played with Terenure in the Leinster Schools Senior Cup.[2] Dardis also featured for Leinster at both u-18 and u-19 youth levels.

Club

Dardis entered the Leinster academy in 2013. Dardis also played for UCD.[3] After three years in the Leinster academy, he was awarded his first fully professional contract ahead of the 2016–17 season. After making no appearances for the province, however, Dardis left at the end of the 2016–17 season with Leinster not offering a new contract.[4]

International

Dardis formerly played for the Ireland national under-20 rugby union team.[5] He was on the under-20 squad in 2014 and in 2015, playing in the World Rugby under-20 Championship. He also impressed at the under-20 Six Nations with his footwork and pace.[6]

Dardis currently plays scrum-half for the Ireland national rugby sevens team. He was on the squad in 2016 that unsuccessfully attempted to qualify for the 2016 Olympics.[7] He was the captain of the team for the Rugby Europe 2017 Sevens Grand Prix Series,[8] which served as a qualifying tournament for the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens and the 2018 Rugby World Cup.[9]

Dardis captained the team at the 2018 Rugby World Cup. He led Ireland to a ninth-placed finish, the highest finish for any non core World Series team. Dardis finished the tournament with 32 points, ranked second among all players.

Dardis also captained the team at the 2019 Hong Kong Sevens qualifier, where Ireland won the tournament to qualify to play as a “core team” on the 2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series.

References
  1. "Squad". leinsterrugby.ie. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
  2. "Dardis drawing on schools experience with Terenure as he revels in Carolan's expansive Ireland U-20s game-plan", Independent, Cian Tracey, 11 July 2017.
  3. "Dardis Hat-Trick The Highlight As UCD Crush Cookies" Archived 2018-03-28 at the Wayback Machine, 29 September 2015.
  4. "Ross to end his time with Leinster as raft of young stars commit futures", Independent, 12 June 2017.
  5. "Dardis drawing on schools experience with Terenure as he revels in Carolan's expansive Ireland U-20s game-plan", Independent, Cian Tracey, 11 July 2017.
  6. "Dardis and Ireland U20s aiming to replicate Schmidt’s senior set-up", The42.ie, 26 February 2015.
  7. "Men’s Sevens squad to compete at the Olympic Repechage in Monaco this weekend.", 15 June 2016.
  8. "Former Leinster winger Billy Dardis captains Ireland for Grand Prix opener", 1 June 2017.
  9. "Ireland can secure place at Rugby Sevens World Cup", Irish Times, John O'Sullivan, 3 July 2017.
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