Kieran Brookes (born 29 August 1990) is an English rugby union player who plays for

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He usually plays as a tighthead prop, but can also cover as a loosehead prop. He was educated at

Kirkham Grammar School Kirkham Grammar School is a selective, co-educational independent school in Kirkham, Lancashire, England. It was founded in 1549. Its roots can be traced back to the chantry school attached to St Michael's Church in the 13th century. The sc ...

Club career

Brookes made almost 40 senior appearances for Newcastle but only started 1 game in the 2009–2010 season. Brookes moved to Leicester Tigers for the 2011–12 season. Having returned to the Newcastle Falcons on loan from Leicester Tigers in March 2013, he signed a two-year contract to stay with the Falcons in April 2013. On 13 January 2015, it was announced that Brookes would be joining

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

at the end of the 2014-15 season. Brookes became a regular starter for the East Midlands side and racked up numerous appearances at his time at Saints. The prop helped Saints to secure European Champions Cup rugby for the 2017/18 season, featuring in both play-off games as Saints beat Connacht Rugby and Stade Francais to seal the last spot in the top tier of European rugby for the following season. On 13 June 2018, Brookes signed for Premiership rivals

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

from the 2018-19 season. On 9 June 2021, it was widely confirmed that Brookes would leave Wasps at the end of the season to join top French side

in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

competition ahead of the 2021-22 season.

International career

Although born in England, Brookes played at many underage levels for , including U-18, U-19 and U-20. Brookes has committed himself to the rugby team, playing for England in an uncapped match against the Barbarians and for 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 ...

in their successful

Churchill Cup The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams (originally one and later three) from a wide arr ...

campaign in the summer of 2011. In May 2014 he was called up to England's training squad for the tour of New Zealand, where he earned himself his first two caps for his country. Since making his senior debut for England in that tour, Brookes has taken to the field for England 16 times. He was a member of the 2015 Rugby World Cup squad and was included in the squad for the 2016 Six Nations and after joining the squad on 1 February, coming back from an injury, helped his country to a Grand Slam victory. The summer of 2016 saw Brookes become part of the England Saxons squad once more where he travelled to South Africa to face South Africa 'A' where the men in white secured a 2-0 series win.

References

External links

Newcastle Falcons profileEngland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brookes, Kieran 1990 births Living people Doncaster R.F.C. players England international rugby union players English people of Irish descent English rugby union players Leicester Tigers players Newcastle Falcons players People educated at Kirkham Grammar School Rugby union players from Stoke-on-Trent Rugby union props