Tom Court

Who is Tom Court?

Tom Court is a rugby union footballer. He plays for Ulster as a tighthead and loosehead prop. He primarily played at tighthead in his early career but switched to loosehead in the 2007/2008 season when BJ Botha arrived at Ulster.

Court was born in Brisbane, Australia and began his sporting career as a shotputter. He was Australian University Champion for three years running and had Olympic trials in 2002. He started playing rugby in 2004 and has represented Queensland Reds and Manawatu as well as Ulster. In an interview with the Ulster Rugby Website, Court intimated that he had begun playing rugby in order to lose weight.

Court represented the Ireland A side at the 2006 Churchill Cup only 16 months after first playing rugby union, before he had played his first game for Ulster. He qualifies to play international rugby for Ireland through his grandparents - his grandfather, Patrick Carey, was born in County Limerick. He was also named in the 2008 Churchill Cup squad and appeared as a substitute in all three games; against USA, England Saxons and a representative Argentina XV. He made his full Ireland debut in an uncapped match against The Barbarians at Kingsholm Stadium in Gloucester.