LAST UPDATE | 18 Mar
LEINSTER AND IRELAND forwards Jack Conan and Ryan Baird will remain with their native province after new deals for the duo were confirmed on Tuesday.
Conan will stay with Leinster until at least the end of next season, while Baird will also extend his tenure having previously renewed as recently as last May.
The eastern province have also confirmed that wing Andrew Osborne has signed his first professional deal with the Blues.
As is their policy, Leinster did not disclose the length of these new contracts but Conan was understood to be in the final months of his existing deal.
After two starts and a couple of impressive cameos for Ireland during the Six Nations, the 32-year-old has signed on for his province’s 2025/26 campaign.
Conan, a Test Lion in 2021, has made 160 appearances for Leinster since his debut against Cardiff in February 2014, scoring 34 tries.
A native of Bray, Co. Wicklow, the former St Gerard’s student has gone on to earn 51 caps for his country
Conan continues in blue. 🔵🤝
— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) March 18, 2025
Jack Conan has signed a new contract with Leinster Rugby ahead of the 2025/26 season. #NeverLessThanEverything pic.twitter.com/lwXsX9Iu27
Conan was one of two uncapped players included in Ireland’s extended squad for the 2015 Six Nations but didn’t make his Test debut until a World Cup warm-up against Scotland the following summer.
He didn’t make Ireland’s World Cup squad for 2015, however, and didn’t feature again for Joe Schmidt’s national side until 2017.
Conan has since become a mainstay in Ireland matchday squads when fit, and started all three Lions Tests in South Africa during the delayed tour of 2021.
Baird, a lock-back row hybrid, has played 77 times for Leinster since his debut against Ulster in April 2019, scoring 12 tries.
The 25-year-old Dubliner, a St Michael’s College graduate, made his debut for Ireland off the bench against Italy during the 2021 Six Nations and has earned 26 further caps in the four years since.
With 7⃣7⃣ Leinster Rugby caps already to his name, we're set to see plenty more of Ryan Baird in blue as he has signed a new contract with the province. 🔥#NeverLessThanEverything pic.twitter.com/FffCzZvw2R
— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) March 18, 2025
Academy wing Osborne, the younger brother of provincial teammate and Ireland international Jamie Osborne, has enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2024/25, dotting down four times in his eight appearances (six starts).
The Naas RFC product, 21, was a member of the Ireland U20s Grand Slam-winning team in 2022, scoring a try on his debut against Scotland at Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium.
He repeated that trick on his senior debut for Leinster in Round 12 of the URC last season, away to Zebre.
Elsewhere, Connacht have confirmed that wing Chay Mullins and back row Oisín McCormack have signed new deals in Galway.
Former Bristol Bear and Ireland U20 Mullins has made six appearances for Pete Wilkins’ side this season, all of them starts, and scored three tries.
The 23-year-old Bristolian, who is Irish-qualified through a grandmother from Cavan and a grandfather from Meath, has represented Ireland in the Sevens code and signed a pro deal with Connacht in May of last year.
McCormack, 24, played with Ireland U20s a year before Mullins in 2021. The Galway native has made two Challenge Cup appearances off the bench for Connacht in the last two seasons after an injury-ravaged start to his professional career.
Won’t be the last
@Brian Carr: If spurs don’t get supporters into their ground fast they are in big trouble….a massive shiny new stadium with the massive bills that come with it. Liverpool’s owners again showing they are proper business men not gambling on a massive loan to buy a new stadium, they are improving Anfield in manageable stages smart men!
@Peter Hughes: Joseph Lewis owns Tottenham and is worth is around 4billion so I dont think Spurs are in too much trouble for a long time yet.
@Peter Coen: So why did they need to get a 175 million loan from the UK government?
@Peter Coen: they also borrowed over £100m to see them through the current situation. They’ll not be stuck.
@Peter Hughes: and CHAMPIONS!
@Wheresmyjumper: Probably is not really explaining it.
@Wheresmyjumper: Probably the same reason wigan went under, they probably have owners with money but they are not willing to take the hit and are just letting the club sink…..who says the Spurs owner will pump hundreds of millions of his own money in when all the debt is probably under the clubs name, perhaps he will just walk away a bit like the ex Liverpool owners nearly put the club into administration.
@Wheresmyjumper: Wrong move by LFC but they never received a penny in furlough.
@Peter Coen: Yes but he isnt going to keep sinking money into a black hole
Feel sorry for the staff. Only in the prem 7 years ago. Goes to show how bad some of these clubs are been run. Wign are a big enough club to have survived this pandemic if it was run properly the last few years.
@Ken: it’s also a relatively low debt
@Ken: Wigan fans never backed the clubs success or PL journey in sufficient numbers….always a joke following. Basically Dave Whelans play thing till he got bored or saw what was heading down the line….
Wigan has always been a rugby league town. Could never get close to filling their 25k seater stadium during 8 seasons in the premier league.
@Fergus O’Connor: Interesting that since their record tickets sold is 25,133 against United when they were in the Premier League, that’s 5 off the max capacity.
@Marcus Suridius: Their averages every season were 5-7k below capacity
It’s only the beginning, the efl was already a ticking financial time bomb ready to go off before corona and lock down, clubs barely afford to pay wages and staff along with bills. And now with large crowds a long way off being allowed into stadiums till close to or after the new year, clubs like Wigan will struggle to even get the cash flow needed to start the new season while just about finishing this one
Not a fan but sad to hear
Only taken over by new owners 4 weeks ago!!
I remember wigans first season in the p league under Paul Jewell they done incredible to be in the top 10. Amazing what a few years can do in football
Sure a professional football player only costs about £100,000,000 nowadays
@Tony O Neill:
That is precisely the problem!
Relative to Total Income, transfer fees and player wage costs are out of sync with reality for many clubs in the upper tiers of English football.
Covid-19 lockdown hasn’t helped.
Classic catch22 situation; no investment to acquire quality players, the club slides down the divisions; if investment available… lots of income absorbed in higher wages; no dyed in the wool fan base, poor gate receipts from season tickets.
Clubs with good academies, bringing on young talent, seem to do best, plus the ones owned by the Billionaires
Not for the feint hearted, such investments!
And so it begins
All the little Pie-Eaters will start supporting the Manchester teams now.
@Ian Heaton: they do anyway and that’s the problem.
I can never understand why the F.A penalise the club and players and supporter who are probably innocent of all the dealings and the owners get away scot free