| Born | Donal Gerard Lenihan (1959-09-12)12 September 1959 (age 66) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Height | 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 108 kg (17.0 st; 238 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Saint Patrick’s Christian Brothers College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | University College Cork | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Donal Gerard Lenihan (born 12 September 1959) is a retired Irishrugby union player and manager.
Lenihan was raised in a sporting background. His father, Gerald Lenihan, was an All-Ireland heavyweight boxing champion and Gaelic footballer of distinction, and played in the same team asJack Lynch. Donal attended primary school he attendedSaint Patrick’s on Gardiner's Hill and afterwards went toChristian Brothers College, Cork. He captained his school toMunster Junior andSenior Schools titles and also captainedIrish schools.[2] He was a student atUCC and played for the rugby team while studying there.[citation needed]
Lenihan played his first test match for Ireland on 21 November 1981 versusAustralia at the age of 22. Famous for his aerial skills in the line-out, the second row was ever present in the Irish team for over a decade which saw twoTriple Crowns and threeFive Nations Championship victories. It was his break off the back of a line-out that set upMike Kiernan's championship clinching drop-goal againstEngland in 1985.
Lenihan played four matches in the inaugural1987 Rugby World Cup where he was the Irish captain and played three matches in the1991 Rugby World Cup. TheMunsterman captained his country 17 times (3rd highest of the amateur era, 7th all-time). He was selected for threeBritish and Irish Lions tours -1983,1986 (IRB Centenary Match),1989 - and captained the Lions on a number of occasions during their victorious tour of 1989.[3] His 52nd and last Irish cap (6th highest of the amateur era) came againstWales on 18 January 1992.
After retirement from playing rugby, he took over as manager ofIreland in 1998, alongside coachWarren Gatland.[4] He stepped down as manager at the end of the 2000 season[5] to take over management of theBritish and Irish Lions for their 2001 tour to Australia with coach SirGraham Henry.[6]
Lenihan appears regularly as a commentator on TV and radio for rugby matches and writes for theIrish Examiner newspaper. He also works as a financial consultant in Cork.
Lenihan was inducted into theMunster Rugby Hall of Fame in April 2019.[7] He was inducted into the Rugby Writers of Ireland Hall of Fame in November 2013. He was adjudged Irish rugby’s ‘Player of the Decade’ for the 1980s by theIrish Times. Lenihan was elected President of Cork Constitution Rugby Club for 2020–21.
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