Who is Andrew Conway: Ten things you should know about the Ireland winger

Andrew Conway is a fine finisher for both Ireland and Munster.

The winger is a fast, powerful runner who has thrived for club and country after a glittering youth career.

Ten things you should know about Andrew Conway

1. Andrew Joseph Conway was born on 11 July 1991 in Dublin. He attended Blackrock College, a notoriously strong rugby school, and was part of the team that won the Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup in 2009.

2. He began his professional career at Leinster, debuting aged 18 in February 2010.

With competition for places high in a dominant side, Conway did not feature in either of Leinster’s Heineken Cup-winning campaigns in 2011 and 2012. However, he started in the finals of the Pro12 and European Challenge Cup in 2013, with Leinster winning both.

3. After 42 appearances and eight tries for Leinster, Conway moved south to Munster after the 2012-13 season. He grew up a Munster fan and watched the province win the Heineken Cup live in both 2006 and 2008. His uncle, Mark McDermott, played hooker for the province.

4. Conway had a fluctuating relationship with Joe Schmidt, his head coach at Leinster and then Ireland. The winger admitted in The Irish Times in 2020 that “my decision (to leave Leinster) didn’t go down well with Joe”, as Johnny Sexton’s concurrent departure meant “the timing wasn’t great”.

Any tension appeared to have eased by 2019, when then-Ireland coach Schmidt lauded Conway’s “contagious” enthusiasm.

5. He made his Ireland debut in March 2017 against England. It followed a superb youth career in the green shirt, which included winning the U20 Six Nations. In 22 games for Ireland U20 and Emerging Ireland, he scored 20 tries.

6. Conway established himself in the national squad in autumn 2017. He scored his first Ireland try in the 38-3 hammering of South Africa, before being named Man of the Match in the 23-20 win over Fiji.

7. He scored one of the great Munster tries in their European Champions Cup quarter-final with Toulon in 2018.

With Munster losing 19-13 in the 75th minute, Conway caught a clearance kick and scythed through the French side’s defence to score at a packed Thomond Park. His effort earned Munster a 20-19 win.

8. Conway made an impression at his debut Rugby World Cup in 2019, scoring in each of his three appearances to finish as Ireland’s leading try-scorer in Japan. Yet, he was not involved in the quarter-final defeat by New Zealand.

9. He is an ambassador for Make-a-Wish Ireland. In 2020, he conducted a kitbag giveaway for the charity that raised more than €9,000.

10. Conway scored three tries in the 60-5 demolition of Japan in November 2021 – his second international hat-trick for Ireland. The first came three years earlier against USA.

He began 2022 in similarly potent form, scoring twice as Ireland beat Wales in their Six Nations opener.