byrne had played rugby union since his secondary school days. he later played with the kilkenny and wanderers in the 1960s. immediately following the 1972 all-ireland hurling final victory byrne joined blackrock college and he soon started to make the leinster team for representative matches. his talent was quickly noted and he later made his debut for ireland in a 1977 five nations championship game against scotland. byrne won five more caps in the front row but never finished on a winning team. in 1979 he was the first-choice tight-head prop in the ireland team that went on a tour to australia. that tour remains famous for ollie campbell taking over tony ward’s out-half spot, however, for byrne it was memorable for quite a different reason. a group of players were coming back from a race meeting one night when, standing on a path waiting to cross the road, he was hit by a car which didn’t stop. his leg was broken in three places and he wasn’t able to play rugby again until early 1982. byrne, however, recovered sufficiently to help blackrock win the leinster senior cup and leinster senior league in 1983.