David Humphreys (rugby union)

David Humphreys

Personal information
Full name	David Humphreys
Date of birth	10 September 1971 (1971-09-10) (age 40)
Place of birth	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Nickname(s)	Humphs
School(s) attended	Ballymena Academy
Senior clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (points)
	Ulster
Representative teams
1996-2006	Ireland	72 (560)[1]
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only.

David Humphreys MBE (Gaeilge, Daithi Mac Unfraidh) (born 10 September 1971, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a retired rugby player. He played for 72 times for Ireland (scoring 560 pts, including 6 tries) and for Ulster.

Life & Career

Humphreys was educated at Ballymena Academy, the Queen's University of Belfast and Oxford University. Humphreys has represented Ireland at A, U21 and schools levels and has also captained the Barbarians. He led the Ireland Schools' side to the Triple Crown back in 1992 when he was at Ballymena Academy. He broke into the Ulster senior squad a year later helping them to victory over Cumbria at Cockermouth.

Humphreys was a law student at Queen's University of Belfast at the time. When he graduated, he moved to Oxford University. At the 1995 Varsity Match Humphreys scored all Oxford's points (a try, conversion, drop goal and three penalties) in their defeat by Cambridge 21-19. Humphreys duly qualified as a solicitor and came under the tutelage of a Belfast practice whose senior partner was Mike Gibson, a noted rugby player. Humphreys converted from the amateur game to the professional ranks with London Irish whose coaches included Willie Anderson and Clive Woodward.

Humphreys made his Ireland debut against France on 17 February 1996, and went on to win over 70 caps, making him Ireland's most capped fly-half. He returned to Ulster with the advent of professionalism in the province at the beginning of the 1998-99 season and captained Ulster to European Cup glory in 1999 - the province defeated Colomiers in the European Cup final at Lansdowne Road in Dublin.

Humphreys was a formidable outside half with excellent positional kicking from the hand, accurate and consistent goal kicking plus devastating acceleration from a standing start which regularly set up try-scoring moves in the three-quarter line. In addition, his drop goal was a vital part of Ulster and Ireland's armoury in the late stages of close games.

Later in his career, he suffered from inconsistent form and competed with Munster's Ronan O'Gara, who would eventually surpass him as Ireland's most-capped fly-half, for a place in the Ireland team. In the 2003-4 season he lost his Ireland place in the side, but with O'Gara on Lions duty, he played in both of the summer 2005 Tests against Japan - captaining the side twice. He came on as a substitute against New Zealand in November 2005, and did the same against Australia the following week. Humphreys captained Ireland for the fifth time in the November 2005 win against Romania.

David Humphreys announced his retirement from international rugby after being an unused replacement throughout the 2006 Six Nations campaign. Humphreys cemented a reputation for last-ditch heroics in the final match of the 2005-6 season. Ulster had gone into the final week of competition narrowly leading the Celtic League, but a decisive win for Leinster away to Edinburgh concluded during the final minutes of Ulster's final match, against the Ospreys in South Wales. With Ulster two points behind with just four minutes to go and the Ospreys dominating territorially, it looked like the cup would go to Dublin. Humphreys, however, kicked a last minute 40 metre drop goal to clinch the game and the league for Ulster.

He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Ulster in 2003 for Services to Sport and an MBE in the Queens New Year's Honours List in January 2004.

Humphreys played his last ever match for Ulster and possibly in the sport against Cardiff Blues in the Magners League on 9 May 2008. He led the team onto the pitch to a standing ovation from the Ravenhill crowd. He was subbed off after 8 minutes with a bad limp, again to a standing ovation from the Ulster supporters as well as the Cardiff staff.

His younger brother Ian Humphreys is also a fly-half who currently plays for Ulster - and has represented Ireland A and at Sevens.

References

1. ^ http://www.sporting-heroes.net/rugby-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=6504

External links

• Ulster profile
• Statistics from Planet Rugby
• Humphries retires from game

Persondata
Name	Humphreys, David
Alternative names
Short description	Rugby union player
Date of birth	10 September 1971
Place of birth	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Date of death
Place of death