Ciarán Frawley, a staple of Leinster’s back line, has come a long way in a short amount of time to become a household name in Irish rugby. From youth rugby to the big breakthrough of making the Leinster first team in 2018 to being awarded his first international cap, Frawley’s journey has been fascinating, and we’ll be following the Irish rugby athletes all season!
At just 26 years of age, there is plenty more time for him to write himself new chapters of what could be a stellar rugby career.
Who is Ciarán Frawley?
Everyone’s journey to the top starts somewhere, and for Ciarán Frawley, life began 10,000 miles away in New South Wales, Australia. He was born in Sydney to Irish immigrant parents, and at the age of three, his family moved back to the Emerald Isle.
Frawley gains a strong footing at Skerries
Living in North County Dublin, Frawley’s rugby journey started with the Skerries Community College team, where in 2014 he captained the side to the All-Ireland Under-17 title. The college retains close links with local club Skerries RFC, and because of that relationship, Frawley moved up to the club.
Formed in 1926, Skerries are a rich part of the rugby heritage in the area, with two adult male teams and a range of youth sides, including girls’ teams. Frawley made his breakthrough into the Skerries RFC All-Ireland League team in 2015, making eight appearances for them, with the first of those coming on his 18th birthday.
After moving on to further studies, Frawley appeared for University College Dublin RFC in 2016. He played 15 times for the college team, where he averaged 5.4 points per game.
Playing position
As with most back-row players undergoing development, Frawley was utilised in several positions during his early days in the game, and there’s still an element of that today happening to him at the professional level. Throughout his career, he has moved between fly-half, fullback and centre, with the latter being where he really started to excel and where he can most often be seen lining up for Leinster.
Becoming a leading light at Leinster
Following UCD, the next calling for Frawley was the Leinster Rugby Academy, which he joined before the start of the 2017-18 season. As a testament to the ability that he was showing at the time, he broke into the senior team during his first academy year, which is very rare for a player to do.
Frawley’s debut came against the Scarlets in February 2018, and he made a couple of notable contributions in the fixture. After coming on as a first-half substitute, not only did he slot a penalty between the uprights in the match, but he also swung over a beautiful touchline conversion.
From there, he would only appear twice more during the 2017-18 season for Leinster, who recognised the talent they had on their hands but weren’t about to rush him. However, he wasn’t just on the sidelines warming the bench and waiting for opportunities, as he was an active part of the Leinster ‘A’ side that produced a 100% winning record in 2018 to lift the Celtic Cup.
Frawley’s European debut
Having already made his Leinster debut the season before, Frawley’s volume of work with the first team was stepped up considerably in the 2018-19 Pro14 season, where he made 11 appearances and tallied 58 points, drifting between the outside and inside centre roles.
During the following 2019-20 season, Frawley appeared in the European Champions Cup for the first time, albeit not in the starting 15. He came off the bench against English Premiership side Northampton Saints and chipped in with a couple of successful conversions as Leinster dominated in a 50-21 victory.
Across the 2019-20 season in all competitions, Frawley appeared 12 times and ran in one try during that spell. It was in those two seasons that Leinster started utilising him more and more in the inside centre role, where he was having a more direct impact on the game.
This also continued in the following seasons, where Frawley continued to gain more and more traction. At the end of the 2021-22 campaign, the flame-haired centre’s stock had risen so much that he was credited with the honour of being the club’s Supporters’ Player of the Year for the 2021-22 campaign.
Frawley answers Ireland’s call
Ciarán Frawley broke through into the Irish national setup in 2021 under head coach Andy Farrell. However, he still had to wait a fair while to get onto the pitch in the famous green jersey and claim his first full cap for his country.
Frawley worked up through the ranks, being selected for the Ireland U-20 side for the 2017 Six Nations Under 20s Championship, where he appeared in all five fixtures. During the same year, Frawley gained further international experience by appearing in the 2017 World Rugby Under 20 Championship.
After appearing for Ireland’s U17, U18 and then U20 levels, his first call-up to the Ireland senior squad came in the 2021 Autumn Internationals, but he could not get onto the pitch. It was the same story in 2022 on Ireland’s historic Tour of New Zealand, where he failed to get any Test playing time. With Ireland winning their first-ever away series against the All Blacks, it was still a superb camp for the youngster to be part of.
Then, after spending such a long time in the Ireland camp, the moment for his first Test cap happened in August 2023 in a World Cup warm-up fixture against Italy. Frawley came on as a half-time substitute as Ireland changed their back line because of an injury to Jimmy O’Brien and played at number 10. Ireland won the game, but the second half of the fixture was a scrappy affair.
Despite a few good moments from Frawley, Ireland’s control waned as further new faces were introduced, but still ran out 33-17 winners. Frawley described his Test debut at the Aviva Stadium as being “Unbelievable, very special.”
2024 Six Nations
Still the biggest and best international rugby tournament outside of the World Cup, the Six Nations in 2024 was another pivotal moment in Frawley’s career. Head coach Andy Farrell included the Leinster man in the squad, saying that it was an “easy decision” to give him a starting role in their round 3 match at the Aviva against Wales when he was needed.
In that match, Frawley earned his third cap, and was utilised at full-back, having trained in that position during the camp. That’s a big nod towards the kind of strength that Frawley has as a utility player, that he could still make it into the starting 15 despite predominantly playing in the centre or at fly-half for Leinster.
Ireland dominated the game, winning 31-7, with Fawley dotting the ball down in the 66th minute for his first try at the top international level.
The Frawley redemption
In the summer of 2024, Ireland toured South Africa, which is one of the toughest places in the world to go and play, and Frawley was part of that. At the infamous ‘Shark Tank’ in Durban, South Africa and Ireland played out what was nothing short of a brutal Test match, full of powerful hitting – it was heavyweight rugby at its best.
It was engrossing and the match had spectators in the stadium, and those watching back home in the Emerald Isle, on the edge of their seats. Ireland started the match quickly, giving the hosts no time to think on the ball, and the visitors were 16-6 up at the break.
South Africa were a different beast after the break, however. They played with high intensity, and wave after wave of attacks just battered the Irish defence almost for the entire 40 minutes, as the Springboks looked for a way back into the game.
They found one, and with 10 minutes remaining, South Africa had turned around the deficit to hold a 24-19 advantage with the clock ticking down. Frawley had been introduced into the match with 20 minutes to go and fired a drop goal over the posts to claw Ireland to within two points.
Ireland were still hanging on at that point, and when the clock had ticked into the red, Frawley received the ball from scrum-half Caolin Blade, swung his boot and fired a missile between the uprights from 40 metres out with the last play of the game. It gave Ireland a dramatic victory and only their second in 12 matches on South African soil against the Boks.
The remarkable redemption
That kick was redemption for Frawley, who described it as one of the best moments in his career, but afterwards admitted that it had been the “ugliest” strike of his career. There was a big backdrop to the moment that made beating the World Champions all that much sweeter.
A couple of months earlier, Frawley had been in action for Leinster against Toulouse in the European Champions Cup Final at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Frawley had the game in his hands as he went for a match-winning drop goal in the dying seconds. Had it gone through, Leinster would have earned their fifth gold star.
However, the attempt went left and as the clock passed 80 minutes, Toulouse kicked the ball into touch, sending the match to extra time. For the third season running, Leinster fell short at the final hurdle, losing 31-22, with Frawley missing another kick at goal in extra time to haul them back into the match.
Frawley was crest-fallen in London, but the winning drop goal against the Boks around seven weeks later went some way to banishing the demons from that day. It also showed tremendous character and belief when he backed himself to go again for another drop kick in such a high-pressure situation.
The future
There is surely major silverware waiting in the wings for Ciarán Frawley in his career. Will this be in the European Champions Cup with Leinster, a United Rugby Championship, or even World Cup glory with Ireland?
A place on the British & Irish Lions 2025 Tour of Australia perhaps also awaits on the back of a strong Six Nations campaign. From fly-half to centre and reliable full-back figure, Frawley is a valuable asset for both Leinster and Ireland.
But does his future lie in Leinster? Will he be tempted by a big-money move elsewhere, maybe to France or the English Premiership? Will he make his way back to his country of birth to play in Super Rugby? A current move doesn’t look too likely for Frawley, who has a tremendous platform to build on at Leinster.
Regardless of where Frawley’s rugby career may take him, you can stick with Tonybet for all the latest club and international rugby. From the competitive action in the United Rugby Championship and the big European club battles in the Champions Cup to the Six Nations, World Cup and autumn internationals, get all the latest pre-match and in-play rugby betting markets on our secure platform, available on mobile through the Tonybet app.
