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16.09.12

The rugby community from Ireland and beyond have been sending their tributes to Nevin Spence, the young Ulster Rugby man, who died tragically yesterday.

Nevin Spence, along with his brother Graham and father Noel were killed at their family farm in Drumlough Road outside Hillsborough, Co Down at around 6pm on Saturday after a slurry pit accident.

Nevin, 22, was part of the Ulster Rugby squad which lost to Leinster in the final of the Heineken Cup last year and had trained with the Ireland squad for the Six Nations tournament and was expected to flourish at international level.

The Irish Rugby Football Union expressed its deepest condolences to the Spence family.

"Nevin was an outstanding young player which was evident from his progression through the representative ranks and the game has been robbed of a very talented young man," IRFU president Billy Glynn said.

 "The rugby community in Ireland is a very close knit one and there has been widespread shock and an outpouring of grief at this news."

In a statement, Ulster Rugby said it had learned of the tragic death of a "much loved and talented" member of the squad with profound sadness.

"Nevin Spence was a gifted young professional rugby player with an extremely bright future in the game," Ulster Rugby said.

Spence's Ireland and Ulster teammates took to Twitter to express their condolences.

Brian O'Driscoll tweeted: "Devastating news about Nevin Spence, his dad & brother. What a wonderful talent he was. Thoughts & prayers go out to his family & friends."

While fellow Ulsterman and World number one golfer Rory McIlroy expressed a similar sentiment, "Just heard the tragic news of Nevin Spence and his family. Makes you cherish every day you have on this Earth”