Birth name | Andrew Stephen Kyriacou | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 4 January 1983 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Liverpool, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 105 kg (16.5 st; 231 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Kirkham Grammar School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Andi Kyriacou (born 4 January 1983) is an English-born, Irish-qualified former rugby union player and current coach. Kyriacou played as a hooker for Sale Sharks, Leeds Carnegie, Saracens, Munster, Ulster, and Cardiff Blues before moving into coaching.
Kyriacou was born 4 January 1983 in Liverpool, England. He is of Irish and Greek Cypriot heritage. Kyriacou is married to Rebecca and has three children. [1]
Andi Kyriacou started his rugby playing career at Ormskirk RUFC and later moved to West Park RFC in St Helens, Merseyside, where he was amongst a string of Lancashire representatives from the club. From here, Kyriacou represented England at u16 and u18.
Kyriacou's first senior season in top flight English rugby at Sale Sharks included a debut in the Zurich Premiership. [2]
More recognition came at an international level in 2004, when Kyriacou was part of the England U21 Grand Slam winning side in the U21 Six Nations championship. [3]
Kyriacou joined Saracens on 1 July 2004, [4] one of a number of players to make the move from Sale to Saracens in that season including Alex Sanderson, Iain Fullarton and Kevin Yates, as well as Matt Cairns who was returning to the club after a single season with the Sharks. [3] He made his debut in European competition against Rugby Parma on 4 December of that year, with his Guinness Premiership debut soon after 2005–06 . [4]
Working alongside Matt Cairns, Fabio Ongaro and Shane Byrne, Kyriacou was selected by Declan Kidney to join Munster Rugby for the 2006–07 season, making multiple appearances for the club in both their Celtic League and Heineken Cup campaigns. The playing experience drawn from Munster Rugby meant that the 2007–08 season presented greater opportunities for Kyriacou back with Saracens, ready for their 2007/8 European Cup campaign. [4]
In July 2009, Kyriacou signed a contract with Ulster Rugby. [5] Whilst at Ulster, Kyriacou was selected for the Ireland squad and was capped for the Ireland Wolfhounds. [6]
Kyriacou joined Cardiff Blues for the 2012–13 Pro 12, [7] but his playing career was cut short by a back injury early in the season. [8]
Cardiff Blues then signed Kyriacou in a coaching role, supervising the scrum and skills in the first instance, later moving on to coach the forwards. [8] In 2015, Kyriacou went on to become the forwards coach for Russia Rugby, alongside working as the scrum coach for his original club Sale Sharks. Kyriacou was signed by Nottingham Rugby as Defence and Forwards Coach at the beginning of the 2018/19 season, where he built one of the most successful defensive systems and strongest packs in The Championship.[ citation needed ]
Ahead of the 2021–22 season, Kyriacou joined Irish province Munster's academy as a forwards coach. Kyriacou had spent time on loan with the province during his playing career. [9] Kyriacou was promoted to forwards coach with Munster's senior squad on a two-year contract from the 2022–23 season, with previous forwards coach Graham Rowntree being promoted to head coach. [10]
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Matt Cairns is a former rugby union footballer who played at hooker for Harlequins and has been capped for the England national side as well as representing England in the Saxons and Sevens teams as well as at several age group levels. He also played for a season with Sale Sharks and has had two spells with Saracens. He retired on 14 February 2012 due to medical advice.
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Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, it is one of the oldest existing football clubs. It adopted the nickname Sharks in 1999.
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