Rory Scannell Set To Join Munster 200 Club

Saturday’s URC quarter-final against the Sharks in Durban could see Rory Scannell make a landmark 200th appearance for Munster.

In doing so, the Cork man will become the 16th player to achieve this landmark.

The 31-year-old came up through the ranks of PBC and he competed in the 2011 Munster Schools Senior Cup final, narrowly losing out to Rockwell College. He gained international honours early in his career, lining out for the Ireland U18 Schools side where he won the FIRA-AER European Championship.

Rory Scannell in AIL action for Dolphin.

After school, Rory played for the Munster U20s for two seasons while also lining out for Dolphin RFC in All Ireland League. Scannell also started every game of Ireland’s U20s Six Nations championship in 2013.

Later that year, Rory featured for the Ireland U20s in the World Championships, where he featured in every game and scored 28 points throughout the campaign.

Upon returning from France after the U20 World Championships, Scannell was promoted to the Academy and he made his senior Munster debut in a pre-season clash against London Irish at Virgin Media Park before making his Munster ‘A’ debut two months later against Stirling County.

In the 2014/15 season, Scannell featured in pre-season once again before making his competitive Munster debut away to the Cardiff Blues in November 2014.

Rory was also impressing at club level with Dolphin RFC in the All Ireland League and he received the Rising Star of the Month award in January 2015. Later that year, he was part of the Emerging Ireland squad who travelled to Georgia for the Tbilisi Cup.

On the run against Ulster in 2016.

The beginning of the 2015/16 season saw Scannell start two consecutive competitive games for Munster, against Treviso and the Ospreys, and from December of that season, the Cork man made the 12 jersey his own. In December, Rory and his older brother Niall both started away to Dragons, becoming the first set of brothers to start for Munster in the PRO12.

Having become aan extremely influential member of the squad at such a young age, Rory became the first Munster player to win both the Academy Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year Munster awards in the same season.

Rory Scannell in action for Ireland against Japan in 2017.

Rory graduated from the Academy to the senior squad that summer and in 2017, was named in the Ireland squad for the summer tour of Japan and the USA where he made his senior Ireland debut against the USA in New Jersey, kicking two conversions. His brother Niall came on as a replacement in that game as the duo became the first Munster brothers to wear Irish jerseys together on the international stage in the professional era. He started against Japan a week later and was involved in all three Test matches on that tour.

After finishing the 2017/18 season with 27 appearances and five tries to his name, Scannell continued to impress the following year and was the match-winner against Glasgow Warriors and Cheetahs in consecutive weeks with two long-range penalties.

His consistency and durability saw him become the youngest player to reach 100 Munster appearances at the age of just 25 when starting the March 2019 clash away to Scarlets.

Rory Scannell and Jack O’Donoghue tackle Toulon’s Ma’a Nonu.

He continued to rack up the appearances and played in 21 games during the 2019/20 campaign and 19 the following season.

The 31-year-old made his 150th Munster appearance against Ulster in January 2022 before helping Munster to a memorable victory over South Africa A at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in November 2022.

It was his second win against a touring side having also played in the win over Maori All Blacks in 2016.

Scannell played a key role as Munster won the 2023 URC title, making 16 appearances over the season and featuring in the quarter-final win over Glasgow and semi-final victory away to Leinster.

He made 14 appearances over the 23/24 campaign, but an ankle injury against Ulster in the latter half of the season saw him miss the play-offs.

So far this season, he has made 12 appearances.