Kieran Brookes
Kieran Brookes (born 29 August 1990) is an English rugby union player who plays for Wasps and England. He usually plays as a tighthead prop, but can also cover as a loosehead prop.
Birth name | Kieran Brookes[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | [2] | 29 August 1990||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Stoke on Trent, England[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 125 kg (19 st 10 lb)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Lytham St Annes High School[3] Kirkham Grammar School[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Club career
He made almost 40 senior appearances for Newcastle but only started 1 game in the 2009–2010 season.[4]
He moved to Leicester Tigers for the 2011–12 season.[5]
Having returned to the Newcastle Falcons on loan from Leicester Tigers in March 2013, he signed a two-year contract to stay with the Falcons in April 2013.[6]
On 13 January 2015, it was announced that Brookes would be joining Northampton Saints at the end of the 2014-15 season.[7]
Brookes became a regular starter for the East Midlands side and racked up numerous appearances at his time at Saints.
The prop helped Saints to secure European Champions Cup rugby for the 2017/18 season, featuring in both play-off games as Saints beat Connacht Rugby and Stade Francais to seal the last spot in the top tier of European rugby for the following season.[8][9]
International career
Although born in England, he played at many underage levels for Ireland, including U-18, U-19 and U-20.[10]
He has committed himself to the England rugby team, playing for England in an uncapped match against the Barbarians and for the England Saxons in their successful Churchill Cup campaign in the summer of 2011. In May 2014 he was called up to England's training squad for the tour of New Zealand, where he earned himself his first two caps for his country.[11]
Since making his senior debut for England in that tour, Brookes has taken to the field for England 16 times. He was a member of the 2015 Rugby World Cup squad and was included in the squad for the 2016 Six Nations and after joining the squad on 1 February, coming back from an injury, helped his country to a Grand Slam victory.[12][13]
The summer of 2016 saw Brookes become part of the England Saxons squad once more where he travelled to South Africa to face South Africa 'A' where the men in white secured a 2-0 series win.[14]
References
- "Kieran Brookes". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
- "Kieran Brookes". Newcastle Falcons. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
- "Kieran Brookes". Rugby Football Union. Archived from the original on 12 July 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
- "James Hall joins Newcastle Falcons | Rugby | Stoke and Staffordshire sport". This is Staffordshire. 20 May 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
- "Rugby Union News". Planet Rugby. 9 June 2011. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
- http://www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk/player/kieran-brookes-2
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/30799478
- https://www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/news/latest-headlines/2017/may-2017/saints-21-connacht-15-saints-seal-play-off-final-spot/
- https://www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/news/latest-headlines/2017/may-2017/saints-23-stade-francais-22-friday-night-may-lights-strike-again/
- https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/0519/1224297282544.html
- http://www.englandrugby.com/england/england-saxons/squads/kieran-brookes/
- http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/news/87017
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/35460865
- http://www.rbs6nations.com/en/news/30209.php#6QDWuMDjpkgMhGId.97