Kevin Bryce (born 7 September 1988) is a

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international

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 who plays as a Hooker for

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

side

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

. He has also played at

Tighthead Prop In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

and Flanker and has previously played for

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and

Yorkshire Carnegie Leeds Tykes (formerly Leeds RUFC, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the National League 1. The club was founded as Headingley FC, but renamed in 1991 when it j ...

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Before professional club

, Bryce played for

Heriot's Rugby Club Heriot's Rugby Club, also known as Heriot's FP, is one of Scotland's senior rugby football clubs in the Scottish Rugby Union, whose Men's 1st XV play in the FOSROC . The women play in The club's home is in the Goldenacre area in Edinburgh.Bath ...

in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

, still representing them between the odd cap for Glasgow. Following the 2007 U19 international championship, Bryce was named the recipient for the

John Macphail Scholarship The John Macphail Scholarship is an annual rugby union scholarship award in Scotland. It was first given to talented young players; and was later the scholarship also extended to coaches seeking development. The scholarship is named after the for ...

for the 2007 season. The Scholarship will allow Bryce to develop his skills and play club rugby in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, alongside experienced

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

players. Former plays to gain the scholarship include, John Barclay and Sevens player Graham Hogg. It was announced that from the 2019–20 season, Bryce would be taking up a player-coach role at

Glasgow High Kelvinside Glasgow High Kelvinside , often abbreviated to GHK, is an amateur rugby union club in Glasgow, Scotland. They currently play in Scottish National League Division One. History Glasgow High Kelvinside was formed in 1982 by the merger of Kelvins ...

Professional career

Bryce has only been playing professional rugby since February 2014, but has been involved in a professional set-up since the beginning of the 2013–14 season. He did initially join the Warriors on a short-term basis in February 2013 due to the loss of frontline hookers to international duty and injury, but was unable to earn a cap. In May 2013, Bryce signed a one-year contract with

, for the 2013–14 season. However, in December 2013, Bryce joined English club

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

on loan to cover the international capped player,

David Paice David Paice (born 24 November 1983) is an English qualified rugby union footballer who plays at hooker for London Irish and has International honours for England. Paice participated in the 2007 Churchill Cup. He was later called into the ...

. However, Bryce did not play any games for London Irish. He made his professional début for

on 23 February 2014 against the

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in ...

during the 62nd minute. In March 2014, after earning his first professional cap, Bryce signed a new contract with Glasgow Warriors, extending his stay at the

Scotstoun Scotstoun ( gd, Baile an Sgotaich) is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Garscadden and Yoker to the west, Victoria Park, Jordanhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Clyde ...

until May 2016. Bryce moved to Edinburgh in 2016. Edinburgh saw Bryce as a Tighthead Prop and he retrained in that role for the club. He went on loan to

in 2018. On 9 July 2018 it was announced that

had re-signed Bryce. In their statement, the club's forward coach

Jonathan Humphreys Jonathan Matthews Humphreys (born 27 February 1969) is a former Wales international rugby union player. He is now an Assistant Coach for Wales. Rugby Union career Playing career Amateur career Humphreys played for Kenfig Hill RFC and Cardiff ...

stated: "I always preferred Kev as a hooker and he has a chance with us now to see if he can reach the high standards he achieved a few years ago when he was playing international rugby."

International career

Kevin had played for Scotland at various age grade level. In 2006, he represented Scotland under-18's, before representing Scotland under-19's in 2007. During 2007, Bryce was part of the Scotland Under 19's team that went to the 2007 Under-19 Rugby World Championship in Ireland, in which Bryce played every match. In a warm-up match against Italy under-19 for the Under-19 Championship, Bryce captained the side from the Openside, in which Scotland under-19's lost 19–13. In 2013, while playing for Heriot's, Bryce was selected for the winning Scotland Club XV side that beat an Ireland Club XV side 30–18 to reclaim the Dalriada Cup for the first time since 2009. He was one of 17 uncapped players in the squad, with Bryce making his appearance of the bench. Bryce was benched for the match against the France Club XV side, in which the Scottish side lost 44–10. In January 2014, Bryce played for the Scotland A side against the

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

Scotstoun Stadium Scotstoun Stadium is an athletics and rugby union stadium in Scotstoun, an area in the West End of Glasgow, Scotland. Glasgow Warriors have trained at the facility since 2009 and have played their home games here from the 2012–13 season on ...

. Bryce came off the bench in the 73rd minute, to play for his fourth Scottish national team - Scotland A drew 16–16 with the Saxons. On 20 May 2014, Bryce was one of six uncapped players named in the 43-man dual-squad, for the Scottish national side's summer tour to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He was called up to Scotland's

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

squad to replace the injured Stuart McInally.

Coaching career

It was announced that from the 2019–20 season, Bryce would be taking up a player-coach role at

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bryce, Kevin 1988 births Living people Glasgow Warriors players Heriot's RC players London Irish players Male rugby sevens players Rugby union hookers Rugby union players from Alloa Scotland Club XV international rugby union players Scotland international rugby sevens players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union coaches Scottish rugby union players Stirling County RFC players