David U.

About David U.

I discovered rugby union at 13 years old. I grew up in belgium where rugby's popularity is often dwarfed in comparison to football, hockey along with a multitude of other sports. Very early on, I developped a keen interest for the game and played 5 seasons of age-grade rugby. In 4 of these seasons I received representative honours (U16 Flemish Regional team, U16 walloon regional team, U17 Belgian national team and U18 Belgian national team) and won three consecutive national championships (U16 1x, U18 2x) with Kituro Rugby Club. After a year (2018-19) spent at university of bath playing for the development side, I spent a year at rugby academy ireland in order to develop more as a player and immerse myself in full-time rugby. During my time at the academy, I played for Naas where I started playing for the U20s side but quickly cemented myself a spot in the J1s side. I also received a call-up to the Belgian U20 team where i took part in camps and games against the Portugal and Netherlands U20 and Luxembourg Seniors. COVID struck just before we were to set out to the U20 Rugby Europe Championship held in lisbon that year. Post-COVID, I attended Loughborough University for 2 years playing Athletic Union Rugby, attending performance preseason in my first year at the university. During this time, I received an offer to play in the German Bundesliga for Offenbach Rugby Club. I spent two seasons living and playing rugby in germany and during my second season, I received my first call-up to the Belgian Senior team (Black Devils). I played in a friendly game against Euskarians (Basque Selection) and was in the extended training squad for the REC 2023 where Belgium historically triumphed over Portugal. in 2024, I moved to ireland and started to play in the All Ireland League 2A for Cashel RFC wherein Cashel had a historic season making the promotion playoff final against Trinity College, a game that was ultimately lost by a last action penalty kick. I played in 19 AIL game

Career

1. 2024–Present

   Cashel RFC

   All Ireland League 2A · Semi-pro · Ireland · Hooker