Andi Kyriacou (born 4 January 1983) is an English-born, Irish-qualified former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player and current coach. Kyriacou played as a hooker for

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

Leeds Carnegie Leeds Carnegie was a brand name used by several sports teams associated with the Carnegie School of Physical Education, now part of Leeds Beckett University. These include: Current * Leeds Carnegie Handball Club Changed name * Leeds Carnegie (ba ...

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

, and

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms ...

before moving into coaching.

Personal life

Kyriacou was born 4 January 1983 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, England. He is of Irish and

Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 r ...

heritage. Kyriacou is married to Rebecca and has three children.

Playing career

Early playing career

Andi Kyriacou started his rugby playing career at Ormskirk RUFC and later moved to West Park RFC in

St Helens, Merseyside St Helens () is a town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 102,629. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, which had a population of 176,843 at the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census. St Helens i ...

, where he was amongst a string of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

representatives from the club. From here, Kyriacou represented England at u16 and u18.

Sale Sharks 2001–2004

Kyriacou's first senior season in top flight English rugby at

included a debut in the

Zurich Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

. 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.

Saracens and Munster 2004–2009

Kyriacou joined

on 1 July 2004, one of a number of players to make the move from Sale to Saracens in that season including

Alex Sanderson Alexander Sanderson (born 7 October 1979 in Chester) is an English former rugby union footballer who played in the back row during the 1990s and 2000s for Saracens and Sale Sharks. He is the brother of Pat Sanderson who also played rugby fo ...

Iain Fullarton Iain Fullarton (born 25 April 1976) is a former Scottish rugby union player. His regular playing position was Lock. Club career Fullarton was educated at St. Mary's School, Melrose, Merchiston Castle School and the University of Aberdeen. Whil ...

and

Kevin Yates Kevin Yates (born 6 November 1972 in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada) is an English rugby union player who plays at Prop for Nice in the French Fédérale 1. Yates professional career began at Bath. He was a member of the side that won the 1995 ...

, as well as

Matt Cairns Matt Cairns (born 31 March 1979) 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 ag ...

who was returning to the club after a single season with the Sharks. He made his debut in European competition against

Rugby Parma Crociati Parma Rugby F.C. are an Italian rugby union club. They are based in Parma in Emilia-Romagna. They were founded in 2010 by the merger of Rugby Parma F.C. (''Overmach Parma'') and F.C. Rugby Noceto and disbanded in 2014. Rugby Parma ''Rug ...

on 4 December of that year, with his Guinness Premiership debut soon after 2005–06 . Working alongside Matt Cairns,

Fabio Ongaro Fabio Ongaro (born 23 September 1977 in Venice) is an Italian rugby union footballer. Although he now plays as a hooker, he played in the Italian youth teams as a flanker. Career Ongaro first played for Rugby Casale (1994/95-1997/98), spending th ...

and Shane Byrne, Kyriacou was selected by

Declan Kidney Declan Kidney (born 20 October 1959) is an Irish rugby union coach. He was the head coach of the Ireland national rugby union team from 2008 to 2013, where he won the 2009 Six Nations with a Grand Slam, winning the 2009 IRB Coach of the Year aw ...

to join

Munster Rugby Munster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Mumhan) is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU's Munster B ...

for the 2006–07 season, making multiple appearances for the club in both their

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

and

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

campaigns. The playing experience drawn from

meant that the 2007–08 season presented greater opportunities for Kyriacou back with Saracens, ready for their 2007/8 European Cup campaign.

Ulster Rugby 2009–2012

In July 2009, Kyriacou signed a contract with Ulster Rugby. Whilst at Ulster, Kyriacou was selected for the Ireland squad and was capped for the

Ireland Wolfhounds The Ireland Wolfhounds (formerly Ireland A and Ireland B) are the second national rugby union team of Ireland, behind the Ireland national team. They previously competed in the Churchill Cup together with the England Saxons, the national teams ...

Injury and retirement

Kyriacou joined

for the

2012–13 Pro 12 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, but his playing career was cut short by a back injury early in the season.

Coaching career

then signed Kyriacou in a coaching role, supervising the scrum and skills in the first instance, later moving on to coach the forwards. 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. 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. 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 Graham Christopher Rowntree (born 18 April 1971) is an English rugby union former player and current head coach of Irish club Munster. He played loosehead prop for Leicester Tigers and England. He was capped 54 times for England, despite havi ...

being promoted to head coach.

References

External links

Saracens profileSaracens Signing AnnouncementGuinness Premiership profileMagners League profileMunster Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyriacou, Andi 1983 births Living people English rugby union players Sale Sharks players Leeds Tykes players Saracens F.C. players Munster Rugby players Ulster Rugby players Cardiff Rugby players Rugby union hookers English people of Irish descent British people of Greek Cypriot descent Irish people of Greek Cypriot descent Irish people of Greek descent Lancashire County RFU players Irish Exiles rugby union players Munster Rugby non-playing staff Rugby union players from Liverpool English expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Expatriate rugby union players in Ireland English expatriate rugby union players English rugby union coaches Citizens of Ireland through descent