Mike McCarthy
Club / Province:	Buccaneers/Connacht
Position:	Lock
Date of Birth:	27/11/81
Height:	1.93m
Weight:	113Kg
Honours:	9 Caps - Debut v Scotland 6th August 2011

Born in London Mike madehis first appearance for Connacht against Cardiff Blues in Sept 2003, the following year he joined Newcastle, spent three seasons in the north-east before rejoining Connacht in summer 2007.
Prior to that he had been in the London Wasps academy where he won England U21 honours at the 2002 World Cup in South Africa.

Schooled at Sedberg in Cumbria McCarthy was a classmate of his former Newcastle teammate Phil Dowson. Mike re-signed for Connacht from Newcastle and his consistently good performances in the Connacht pack has been rewarded with a call into the 2011 Six Nations Squad.

Mike was called into the Irish team as replacement to injured Paul O'Connell ahead of Ireland's 2012 Six Nations test against Scotland

Fact Box

• Attended Sedbergh School and Brunel University
• Played for England U21 during the Junior World Championships in South Africa in 2002, whilst playing his club rugby with Wasps
• Made his first appearance for Connacht against Cardiff Blues in Sept 2003, the following year he joined Newcastle, spent three seasons in the north-east of England before re-joining Connacht in summer 2007
• Made debut for Ireland Wolfhounds in February 2011 against England in Belfast, played in the same fixture in January last year at Exeter
• Test debut came against Scotland in the RWC warm up games at Murrayfield August 2011
• Called into squad as cover for the injured captain, Paul O'Connell, and made his RBS 6 Nations debut in the game against Scotland last year
• Middlesex Sevens finalist 2002 when playing with London Wasps
• Had started the previous 4 games for Ireland until damaging a knee against England and missing out against Scotland in round three. Came back against France in the last round