Kevin Hopkins (born 29 September 1961) is a retired Welsh International rugby union player. He made seven appearances for his country, as well as representing
Cardiff RFC
Cardiff Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Caerdydd) is a rugby union club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876Parry-Jones (1989), pg 59 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, shortly after ...
,
Swansea RFC
Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premiership. The club play at St Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea and are also known as ''The Whites,'' in reference to their home kit colours.
History ...
and
Neath RFC
Neath Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Castell-Nedd) is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the WRU Championship. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The team is known as the All Blacks because of the team colours: black with onl ...
in the top division of Welsh club rugby, and played twice for the
Barbarians
A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...
invitational side. Following his retirement from playing, Hopkins has held numerous coaching positions.
His grandfather, Tom Hopkins, was also a Wales international rugby player.
Club career
Hopkins started his playing career with his home town club
Ystradgynlais RFC
Ystradgynlais Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club based in Ystradgynlais, Wales. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is also a feeder club for the Ospreys.
The club was established in 1890.
Club honours
*West Wales Cu ...
before going on to represent the first class teams Cardiff RFC, Swansea RFC and Neath RFC. He was club captain for Swansea during the 1991–92 season when they won their first
Welsh league
The Welsh League was the first club rugby league competition in Wales.Lush (1998), pg. 19 Its inaugural season was in 1908/09 when four additional teams were formed to join Ebbw Vale RLFC and Merthyr Tydfil RLFC, which allowed a league tournamen ...
title.
International career
Hopkins made his international test début in April 1985, against England in Cardiff during the
1985 Five Nations Championship
The 1985 Five Nations Championship was the fifty-sixth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the ninety-first series of the northern hemisphere rugby ...
. Hopkins' next international appearance came in the 1987 Five Nations championship, where he played in the matches against France, England and Scotland. Hopkins was a member of the Wales squad for the 1987 Rugby World Cup and played in the pool game matches against Tonga and Canada. His final appearance for Wales was in their match against the United States during the US's 1987 tour of the country.
Coaching career
Hopkins was appointed Director of Rugby for the
Ospreys
The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...
regional team in September 2006. The position was discontinued two seasons later and Hopkins opted in May 2008 not to take an alternative role at the region.
Hopkins took up a post at
Pembrokeshire College
Pembrokeshire College is a further education college with a campus in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in Wales.Dings Crusaders.