Gerald Venables Kyrke (7 September 1882 – 8 March 1932) was an
English international
rugby union forward who played club rugby for
Marlborough Nomads
The Marlborough Nomads was a 19th-century English rugby union club that was notable for being one of the twenty-one founding members of the Rugby Football Union. They also supplied a number of players for the sport's early international fixtures. ...
and was selected for the
1908 Anglo-Welsh tour of New Zealand and Australia.
Rugby career
Kyrke played much of his rugby with Marlborough Nomads, one of the earliest English rugby clubs, based in London. When Kyrke was offered a place on a tour with invitational team, the
Barbarians in 1903 he was already a Nomads player, and was still with the club at the age of 26 when he was invited to tour with the 1908 Anglo-Welsh team. The Anglo-Welsh was an early incarnation of the
British Lions and the 1908 team was assembled to tour New Zealand and Australia.
Kyrke played twelve games for the Anglo-Welsh team, including one Test Match. His first game for the team was on 25 May 1908, facing
Wairarapa on the opening game of the tour.
Gerald Kyrke Lions profile
lionsrugby.com He played in the First Test against New Zealand, but after a heavy defeat he was not chosen for the remaining two Tests of the tour. Despite this he continued to play against club and regional teams and scoring a try in the encounter with a joint West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
/ Buller team in July. Although Kyrke toured with the Anglo-Welsh, he was never chosen to represent England.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyrke, Gerald
1882 births
1932 deaths
People from Chard, Somerset
English rugby union players
Rugby union forwards
British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Wales
Barbarian F.C. players
Rugby union players from Somerset