David Humphreys (rugby player)
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- David Humphreys was also a soldier in the Revolutionary War and aide to George Washington.
David Humphreys MBE (born 10 September 1971 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is an Irish rugby union footballer who plays fly-half. He won 72 caps for Ireland.
Humphreys was educated at Ballymena Academy, the Queen's University of Belfast and Oxford University. Humphreys has represented Ireland at A, U21 and schools levels and has also been capped for the Barbarians. He led the Ireland Schools' side to the Triple Crown back in 1992 when he was at Ballymena Academy. He broke into the Ulster senior squad a year later helping them to victory over Cumbria at Cockermouth. Humphreys was a law student at Queen's University of Belfast at the time. When he graduated, he moved to Oxford University. At the 1995 Varsity Match Humphreys scored all Oxford's points (a try, conversion, drop goal and three penalties) as they beat Cambridge 21-19.
Humphreys duly qualified as a solicitor and came under the tutelage of a Belfast practice whose senior partner happened to be Mike Gibson, one of Ireland's greatest-ever players. Humphreys converted from the amateur game to the professional ranks with London Irish whose coaches included Willie Anderson and Clive Woodward.
Humphreys made his Ireland debut against France on 17 February 1996, and went on to win over 70 caps, making him Ireland's most capped fly-half. In addition he has scored no less than 560 points - an Irish record. Later in his career, he competed with Ronan O'Gara for a place in the team.
He returned to Ulster with the advent of professionalism in the province at the beginning of the 1998-99 season and captained Ulster to European Cup glory in 1999.
Humphreys remains the first-choice fly-half for his provincial team, Ulster Rugby. He captained them to victory in the final of the European Cup in 1999. In received an honorary doctorate from the University of Ulster in 2003 for Services to Sport and an MBE in the Queens New Year’s Honours List in January 2004.
However, in 03/04 he lost his Ireland place in the side, but with Ronan O'Gara on Lions duty, he played in both of the summer 2005 Tests against Japan - captaining the side twice. He came on as a substitute against New Zealand in November 2005, and did the same against Australia the following week. Humphreys captained Ireland for the fifth time in the November 2005 win against Romania.
David Humphreys announced his retirement from international rugby after being an unused replacement throughout the 2006 Six Nations campaign. Humphreys agreed a one-year deal to continue playing with Ulster.
His younger brother Ian Humphreys is also a promising fly-half.