Sean O’Brien Biography

Sean O’Brien (Seán Kevin O’Brien) was born on 14 February 1987.He is an Irish professional rugby union player and keen farmer from Carlow, Ireland. He plays provincial rugby for Leinster and club rugby for UCD. Alongside representing Ireland, O’Brien has also represented the British and Irish Lions. Many pundits, coaches and fans have touted him as one of the best players in the world of his generation having been one of Leinster and Ireland’s most consistent standout performers over the past number of years. He is known as the “Tullow Tank” by Irish fans everywhere.

He is known for his barging runs, and ball carrying, with the IRB’s Rugby News Service describing him as ‘a rampaging ball of destruction. He is also known for his speed, counter rucking, and defensive tackling. O’Brien is comfortable playing across the back row but has played most frequently at openside flanker for club and country. He was selected to play for the British and Irish Lions for their 2013 tour to Australia and their 2017 tour to New Zealand. He made 1 test start in 2013 and started all 3 tests against the All Blacks in 2017. He narrowly lost out to Welsh team mate Jonathon Davies for player of the tour.

Sean O’Brien Family

He has siblings named Stephen, William, Alexandra and Caroline.

Sean O’Brien Personal life

In September 2014 he bought Bellamy’s Pub in Ballsbridge with Leinster team mates Rob Kearney, David Kearney and Jamie Heaslip. After an extensive refurbishment it was reopened as “The Bridge 1859”.

Sean O’Brien Rugby Leinster

O’Brien made his Leinster debut against Cardiff Blues in September 2008 in the Celtic League. He made his Heineken Cup debut against Castres Olympique in December 2008. He did not feature for Leinster in the 2009 Heineken Cup Final, but evidence of O’Brien’s emergence as one of the most exciting young back-row forwards in Europe came in the form of strong interest from France before Christmas of 2010. The Irish Rugby Football Union, keen to ensure they did not lose “The Tullow Tank”, moved quickly and O’Brien agreed a new three-year deal with Leinster the following January.

O’Brien was in outstanding form for Leinster during the pool stages of the 2010–11 Heineken Cup, and he was an integral part of the team that beat Northampton Saints to win the 2011 Heineken Cup Final. Again scoring in 2012 O’Brien helped Leinster win the 2012 Heineken Cup Final scoring a try in the final as Leinster beat Ulster Rugby. In January 2014, O’Brien signed a new two-year deal with Leinster. On 21 December 2015, O’Brien signed a new three-year contract with Leinster.

Sean O’Brien Ireland and British and Irish Lions

In 2007. he was a member of the Ireland Under-20 Grand Slam winning squad. O’Brien was called up to the Ireland team for the 2009 November Tests, and he gained his first cap when he came on as a substitute against Fiji at the RDS Arena on 21 November 2009. He also came on as a replacement against South Africa in a 15–10 win on 28 November 2009. He came off the bench against Italy in the 2010 Six Nations Championship, but was dropped afterwards.

He was injured during Ireland’s 2010 Summer Tests, but won his first start against Samoa in the 2010 Autumn Tests, though he did not feature in any other games. O’Brien started every game for Ireland during the 2011 Six Nations, winning the Man of the Match award against Italy. He came third in the 2011 Six Nations Player of the Championship losing out to the winner Andrea Masi. He was selected in Ireland’s final 30-man squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. O’Brien started against Australia, Russia, Italy and Wales during Ireland’s World Cup campaign, scoring a try against Russia and winning the Man-of-the-Match award against Italy.

In the final 2015 Rugby World Cup Pool D match, O’Brien punched Pascal Papé in the first minute of the win over France. The incident went unnoticed by the match officials, and O’Brien later was named man of the match. The win earned Ireland top pool placement, and a quarter-final against Argentina. O’Brien was later cited by World Rugby, and received a one-game ban (reduced from the recommended minimum of two for mitigating factors including an “exemplary disciplinary record”), meaning he will be unable to play in the quarter-final, but will be available for any further games. On the 19th April 2017 O’Brien was announced on the British and Irish Lions squad. During the tour against New Zealand O’Brien scored in the Lions 15-30 defeat to the All Blacks. The tour ended a draw with 1 win and a draw to both sides.

Sean O’Brien Injury

Leinster Rugby Confirm Cruel Sean O’Brien Injury News.

Leinster Rugby has confirmed today that Irish flanker Sean O’Brien’s shoulder injury is set to rule him out for the rest of the season. The province announced that he had a “procedure on a shoulder injury last Friday.” That surgery came after O’Brien endured a second unsuccessful comeback from the injury earlier this month.

The Lions back-row suffered an injury to the joint against the Scarlets on March 9th which has resulted in his enforced absence. It marks a horrendous run of injuries for the 31-year-old who also missed the Six Nations. The shoulder injury comes after a hip injury that forced him into three months rehab and more surgery last year. He will miss the end of the Pro14 season as well as the Champions Cup final and faces a race to be fit for Ireland’s summer tour of Australia.

In more positive news, Robbie Henshaw’s return last weekend was without complication while Luke McGrath (ankle) and Rhys Ruddock (hamstring) continue to make good progress.

Sean O’Brien Lions

John Spencer, the manager of the British & Irish Lions in New Zealand this summer, said he was “surprised and disappointed” at the critical remarks made by the Ireland flanker Sean O’Brien about Warren Gatland and one of the head coach’s assistants, Rob Howley, but ruled out initiating disciplinary action against the player, who started all three Tests.

The tourists drew a series they were widely expected to lose, becoming only the second Lions party not to lose a rubber in New Zealand, but in a radio interview O’Brien said he was critical of the management because he felt “we should have won it comfortably”. He claimed the players were overtrained on the Thursday before the first Test and said Owen Farrell and Johnny Sexton took over the attack coaching for the second Test because Howley was struggling to get his message across.

Spencer, who was a player on the winning 1971 tour in New Zealand, said: “This is the first time either during or since the tour that I have heard a player say anything like that. I was surprised and disappointed when I saw what Sean had said because it was a tour when everyone stuck together and showed great character to come back against a side that has been at the top of the world rankings for a very long time.

“I watched virtually all the training sessions and cannot see where Sean is coming from. He is a player who had a big impact on the series and I have considerable respect for him but while there was initial disappointment at the end of the third Test when the series was drawn and the dressing room was flat, people have come to realise what a considerable achievement it was, given all the unsuccessful tours there and the All Blacks’ pre-eminence this decade and further back.

“I thought the coaches [who included Ireland’s defence coach, Andy Farrell] did an incredibly good job and to me what Warren Gatland achieved in New Zealand on the back of the 2013 success in Australia makes him the best coach in the world. I have no criticism of any of the coaches and it was the best tour I have been on in terms of the relationship struck up between those involved. There was the right balance between hard work and fun.”

In 2001, the England scrum-halves Matt Dawson and Austin Healey were fined for critical comments about the management they made in newspaper columns during the Lions tour to Australia but Spencer is not considering disciplinary action. “I have no intention of taking the matter further,” he said. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion but when you consider what happened the last time the Lions were in New Zealand [losing 3-0 in 2005], you can definitely say that the Lions are now in a very good place.”

The Saracens No8 Billy Vunipola, who missed the tour because of injury, sided with O’Brien and maintained the Lions would have whitewashed New Zealand had Eddie Jones, the England head coach, been in charge. “I wasn’t there but I guess if he [O’Brien] is saying it and the authority he said it with, he’s probably right,” Vunipola said in a radio interview. “For me to sit here and say the Lions would have probably won is wrong. But personally my opinion is that if Eddie Jones went as coach they would have won 3-0. He is that good.”

Gatland and Howley did not respond to O’Brien’s remarks on Thursday but the Lions’ chief executive, John Feehan, defended them and the rest of the management team, saying: “I said all along that I think we had the best coaching team available and I think they proved that in what we achieved in New Zealand.

“To draw a series with the All Blacks, who had not lost a Test match at home for eight years, was a remarkable result and Warren and the coaches deserve huge credit. Against all the odds and with limited preparation time, this squad became only the second Lions team in history to either win or draw a series in New Zealand in 13 attempts.”

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Grand plans: Ireland’s Sean O’Brien on life beyond the rugby pitch

Watching Ireland secure the Six Nations title must have been a bittersweet moment for Sean O’Brien. Recently recovered from a hip injury, the back row stalwart’s dream of rejoining his teammates to make it a Grand Slam turned into a nightmare when he injured his shoulder lining out with Leinster last Friday. Rolling into Wilde & Green in temperature-defying cotton shorts and a t-shirt this week, however, the Tullow Tank insisted there is plenty of mileage left in the engine yet.

“I’d rather be training, obviously,” admits the Ireland and Leinster rugby star, as he sits down with Feelgood for an exclusive chat at the Milltown cafe close to his apartment.

“I’ve had a frustrating couple of months now with my hip. It was just a bit of wear and tear. I kind of had an issue for the last two games and was struggling every week to train. It’s just one of those things that I was just getting impinged the whole time, so it had to be done.”

“I had a hip scope, got the joint cleaned out, which helped an awful lot,” he explains of the procedure performed by leading orthopaedic surgeon Professor Damian Griffin in London in January. .

“Basically, they go in, take out all those little bits and pieces that are floating about, and close you back up.

“It was only meant to be a couple of weeks, but I was so weak around the joint that it took until now to get it strong enough. Thankfully, now it’s fine. I’m feeling good now.”

Famed for his tireless tackling and bullocking runs, the flanker’s late charge to lead Ireland to victory over England at Twickenham tomorrow suffered a dramatic setback when he left the pitch just 27 minutes into his long-awaited comeback for Leinster against Wales.

Back home in Carlow, one person who’s sure to empathise is younger brother William, who plays rugby for Tullow, but is currently also watching from the sidelines after injuring his knee.

“We’re actually all injured,” says Sean, whose other siblings — big brother Stephen, big sister Caroline, and little sister Alexandra — are all similarly sporty.

“It’s probably a genetic thing in our family. We’re all into sport. My older brother played rugby with Jersey for a few years and both my sisters played as well.

“I started playing U9s initially, so I’ve always played, but I was big into Gaelic football when I was younger too. That was probably the main thing I was focusing on until I got to about 15, and then I realised that I could give rugby a go.

“I was getting better and better at it. I was enjoying the structure and the discipline of it a lot more at the time, as well. I used to go mad when I was playing football because everyone would be giving out to the referee. Rugby’s such a different game.”

Either training or playing five days a week, self-discipline is something he knows all about. A piled-high breakfast of up to three poached eggs, bacon, and protein pancakes, healthy lunch such as a chicken salad and red meat or fish with vegetables for dinner, along with snacks like homemade protein bars and shakes, all help to fuel the Tank, as he’s otherwise known,on a day-to-day basis.

“It’s pretty full on,” says the 31-year-old, who resists freshly brewed coffee for a bottle of still water as we catch up. “Especially on training days, I know that I’m burning just over 4,500 calories, so I need to be eating at least 3,500-4,000 calories of good food to sustain weight and to keep muscle mass.

“My diet has evolved a lot over the last few years. I was living with our nutritionist with Leinster, Daniel Davey, for a couple of years and he opened my eyes up to a different side of nutrition in terms of fuelling up properly.

“After a game, if I was to have something bad, I’d go for a pizza,” confesses Sean, tapping on the Fitbit Ionic he wears to keep track of everything he puts in and pumps out of his body.

“You’re after working hard, you’re looking for calories to put back into your body, and then the next day you’re back on the bandwagon again — so that’d be my treat, really.”

From field to fork and back again, the self-confessed “meat and two veg man” doesn’t have to look too far for a decent steak.

His parents, Sean and Kaye, have a beef farm in Ardristan just 5km from Tullow, which he’s keen to keep one welly in.

“I still farm,” says Sean Jr, joking that he won’t be going vegan like Ireland Rugby League player Anthony Mullally anytime soon. “It’s a hard way to make a living, but it’s an enjoyable lifestyle, as such. I find it relaxing.

“It’s something that I’ve always loved doing since I was a young lad. I’d like to think that I’d still have a part in that down the line as well on a small scale.”

In the meantime, the legendary line breaker has joined forces with Subway and Club Zero to launch the ‘Tasty Trip Down Under’ campaign, giving customers the chance to win a trip to Australia when they flash their loyalty card in Subway stores nationwide.

Questions about his love life are off limits during the interview, we’ve been forewarned, making it clear that despite the adulation that comes with donning the national jersey, the sports star values his anonymity too.

“People at home see me so much that you don’t really get a reaction,” reckons Sean, who split from Georgia McGurk, daughter of RTÉ presenter Miriam O’Callaghan, last year.

“That’s why I love going down there — you’re treated like everybody else. If I went out with my dad for a couple of pints, you’re left alone. There’s no madness that’s in the bigger cities.

“I’m more of a relaxed person, I’d say, so it suits me down there. It suits me being out in the open air and out in the country.”

Following fellow back rower Jamie Heaslip’s retirement from the game last month, enjoying the country air is something the Ireland No7 could be doing a lot more of in the not too distant future.

Together with Heaslip and Leinster and Ireland teammates Rob and Dave Kearney, the rugby player turned entrepreneur already runs The Bridge 1859 and Lemon & Duke in Dublin, and is right now building his own trendy gastropub in the Dolmen County.

“It certainly gives you a reality check,” says Sean about watching some of his peers hang up their boots, “especially when some of them are only two or three years older than you.

“It does put things into perspective a lot quicker for you.

“I’ve had some serious injuries over my career and each time you assess where you are in rugby terms, and how long more have you left or how long more can you take another bad one.

“Your rugby career is a lot shorter than the rest of your life, so you have to think about that and make sure there’s something in place for you and something that you can get involved in when you finish.

“Being involved with those two places has been very good for us in terms of developing a business head and seeing what it takes to run that side of things,” continues the mature student, who’s currently in the second year of a three-year business degree at Griffith College Dublin.

“I’m in the middle of building a place down home myself at the minute, another pub with nice food, so we hope to start in the next few weeks. The plan [is to] have something [close to] home that I can get my hands into when I do finish up.”

Until then, the Tullow Tank is just hoping to get the chance to continue living up to his nickname, which he laughs “could be worse”.

At the time of going to print, no final decision had been made as to whether he will make an appearance during the last match of the Six Nations Championship, kicking off at 2.45pm tomorrow.

“There’s always a chance,” he says, before shooting off for a physio session. “I’ll keep doing what I’m doing anyway!”

Sean O’Brien Awards

1. On 25 May 2011, O’Brien was named ERC European Player of the Year following a season where Leinster were Heineken Cup champions. He was one of five players shortlisted from the 24 Heineken Cup and 20 Amlin Challenge Cup teams that included Leinster teammates Jamie Heaslip and Isa Nacewa.
2. On 15 August 2011, O’Brien was awarded the Guinness/Rugby Writers of Ireland player of the year and received his award at a function in the Aviva Stadium, Dublin.
3. On 4 October 2011, O’Brien was named as the ‘Player of Pool C’ by the IRB.
4. O’Brien was also named, at Openside Flanker, on the Sydney Morning Herald’s ‘Team of the World Cup Pool Stages’, alongside team mates Paul O’Connell and Cian Healy.
5. On 24 October 2011, the official Rugby World Cup website named O’Brien one of the tournament’s ‘Top Five Star Players.’

Sean O’Brien Interview

“I never mentioned England in that interview” – Sean O’Brien clears the air

Sean O’Brien played this the right way.

The Leinster flanker is back in the Ireland XV after he missed out on the tight November victory over Australia. Having overcome a calf injury, picked up last month, O’Brien edged out Leinster colleague Josh van der Flier to get a No.7 jersey he insists he is merely “borrowing” to play Scotland.

And it is Scotland that is holding O’Brien’s keen attention.

Asked by a reporter about comments he gave [on Newstalk] about Scotland being the toughest opponents after 2016 Grand Slam champions England, O’Brien was quick to clear the air. He declares:

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“I actually said the Scottish game. I never mentioned England in that interview.

“I said the Scottish game would be the toughest. It is our first game – they are at home – so I still think that is going to be our toughest game.”

“The minute you look past that first game,” he adds, “you’re in trouble.”

As one of Ireland’s key men at the breakdown and at the back of the pack, O’Brien was asked about his role in protecting Irish scrum-half Conor Murray, who came in for some rough treatment by Glasgow Warriors last month. He decided to turn that query on its’ head.

“I don’t think [Glasgow] took it too far to be honest with you. There is a target on his back – like us all – and people are going to go after him but I don’t think there’s anything bad, in terms of malice, that happened to Conor that time.

“Conor’s bigger than most of us; he should be able to look after himself.”

Indeed, O’Brien admitted Ireland will have no hesitation in going after Scotland’s half-back pairing of Greig Laidlaw and Finn Russell. “Isn’t that the way in every rugby game,” he remarked.

As far as goals are concerned, O’Brien’s are crystal clear as he goes into his sixth championship [he missed 2014].

“Trying to get that Grand Slam [is the goal] at a personal level,” he says.

“The competition itself is so tough and you get to test yourself, week in, week out, against the best. It’s a special competition and it is where you want to be.”

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Sean O’Brien News

Leinster rugby star Sean O’Brien confirms relationship with Mayo star Sarah Rowe.

7 JUL 2018

Leinster rugby star Sean O’Brien has officially confirmed his romance to Mayo GAA and Ireland soccer star Sarah Rowe. The Carlow man jetted off to Corfu with the 22-year-old this week as they enjoyed a well-deserved break away together following a tough season for O’Brien. IRFU players are notoriously private and are warned to keep their personal lives behind closed doors, however O’Brien had no problem in posing topless beside his stunning girlfriend as he shared snaps of their sun filled trip.

In a post on social media, he said: “A super week in Greece made even better by having this beaut with me!

“Back to work tomorrow and cannot wait.”

It hasn’t been an easy year for him after picking up a severe shoulder injury. But the Leinster star is already looking ahead to next season and he has promised to come back a “new man”. He previously said: “Incredibly disappointed for my season to be finished! Iv had a tough year fighting with my body both mentally and physically but in a way I’m glad Iv the chance now to get it right and ready for next season! I’ll be a new man and can look forward to so much!thanks to everyone for your support and messages, means a lot to me (sic).”

Michael Buble says playing Croke Park concert will be ‘heaven’ after his son Noah’s cancer battle. Rowe is equally as accomplished as her beau after being capped for the Irish Women’s soccer team at underage level. However, last year she put her blossoming career on hold to focus on playing Ladies Football with Mayo.

She helped them to reach the All-Ireland Final in Croke Park as she shunned the chance to play Champions League. O’Brien is no stranger to high profile relationships having previously dated none other than Georgia McGurk, the daughter of broadcaster Miriam O’Callaghan . It has been a busy summer for the Ireland players. Munster’s Conor Murray and his gorgeous Joanna Cooper are currently enjoying a romantic getaway.