Kyran Bracken

Kyran Paul Patrick Bracken MBE (Order of the British Empire) (born 22 November 1971 in Dublin, Ireland) is a former English rugby union footballer who played at scrum-half (Rugby union positions#9. Scrum-half) for Saracens (Saracens (rugby club)), Bristol (Bristol Shoguns) and Waterloo R.F.C.

He won a total of 51 England (England national rugby union team) caps and captained the team on three occasions, retiring from international rugby in 2004.

His father was a dentist and his mother had played hockey for Ireland. They originally lived in Skerries (Skerries, Dublin) in north County Dublin but moved to England when Kyran was four.

He was brought up in Liverpool and was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers at St. Edwards College, and later by the Jesuits at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire. He attended a trial for Liverpool F.C. and scored three goals. He also flirted with the idea of playing rugby league for St Helens RLFC.

After school he read Law at the University of the West of England, Bristol (formerly Bristol Polytechnic) whom he represented at rugby union and later qualified as a solicitor. He was turned down by Ireland (Ireland national rugby union team) as not good enough but signed up by Bristol.

Bracken made his England debut in November 1993 against the All Blacks. However, a stamp from Jamie Joseph seriously injured his ankle, putting him out of action for three months and leaving him with a permanent weakness. He started the 1994 Five Nations (Six Nations Championship), but was dropped half-way through in favour of Dewi Morris. He missed the summer tour to South Africa (South Africa national rugby union team), studying for law exams, but played in the 1995 Five Nations. Injury kept him out of the 1995 World Cup (1995 Rugby Union World Cup).

Kyran joined Saracens in 1996 and was part of the team that won the Tetleys Bitter Cup (Powergen Cup) against Wasps (London Wasps) in 1998.

He missed out on selection for the 1997 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa in favour of Matt Dawson and Austin Healey, but was called up as injury replacement for Rob Howley but did not play in the tests.

He then became an irregular scrum half for England, with Dawson generally having the upper hand but being frequently injured. Bracken himself had a serious back injury that kept him out for most of the 1999 - 2000 season, including the 1999 World Cup (1999 Rugby Union World Cup).

He missed out on selection for 2001 British Lions tour to Australia, instead captaining England on a three match development tour of North America. In 2003 he played in the summer tour beating Australia (Australia national rugby union team) and New Zealand (All Blacks). He appeared four times for England during the 2003 World Cup (2003 Rugby World Cup). He won his 50th cap against Wales (Wales national rugby union team) in the quarter-final, and gained his last cap in the semi-final against France (France national rugby union team).

Bracken was also the player which drew groans from the cast of Friends after being tackled in the episode "the one with all the Rugby".

He and his wife, Victoria, have three young sons. Charlie, Jack and Lochlan.