Kieran Campbell (born 6 July 1979) is a former Irish

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 ...

scrumhalf, former manager of

Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby 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 Ulster Branch, which is one of ...

's academy, and former head coach of the Ireland under-20 team. Born in

Hillingdon Hillingdon is an area of Uxbridge within the London Borough of Hillingdon, centred 14.2 miles (22.8 km) west of Charing Cross. It was an ancient parish in Middlesex that included the market town of Uxbridge. During the 1920s the civil pari ...

to an Irish father and Sri Lankan mother, Campbell was a key player for Gunnersbury Catholic School and helped them reach the last eight of the Daily Mail school's cup and to win the Middlesex School's County cup three years in a row. From a young age he excelled at sports including Gaelic football and played for his local side Heston Gaels.

Professional

Campbell started his professional playing career in 1997 at

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 ...

and was part of the Under 19 World Cup winning side of 1998. After four seasons with the exiles he joined

at the start of the 2001–02 season. However, he would have to wait until the start of the 2003 season before he would emerge as a first team regular overhauling the scrumhalf

Neil Doak Neil George Doak (born 21 June 1972) is a Northern Irish former cricketer and rugby union player. He currently works as a rugby union coach, and has served as attack and backs coach with English club side Worcester Warriors, and Georgia during t ...

. The 2003–04 season was to be the most important in his career. After succeeding

for the scrumhalf position at Ulster Kieran was to enshrine himself in the Ravenhill faithful for a stunning individual try scored against

Stade Français Stade Français Paris Rugby () is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French clubs of the modern era. The ...

during the December 2004

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 ...

match. His performances through this season were instrumental in gaining a place on the Ireland's summer tour of Japan in 2005. Following in his breakthrough to the Irish national squad Campbell continued with a successful 2006–07 season where he would win a further 21 caps with Ulster. His performances were good enough to grant him a place in the Ireland A squad for the

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 ...

during May 2007. It was however the emergence of

Isaac Boss Isaac Boss (born 9 April 1980, in Tokoroa, New Zealand) is a New Zealand–born Irish rugby union former player. His grandmother was born in Glenarm, County Antrim, thereby qualifying him to play for Ireland. He played scrum-half or fullb ...

at Ulster and his subsequent breakthrough into the Irish National side that was to allow Campbell to leave the Ravenhill setup in 2008 after seven seasons to join fellow

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 ...

team

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

Coaching

Campbell joined the

academy in 2012 as Elite Performance Officer and backs specialist. He was appointed acting academy manager in July 2014, before taking on the job on a permanent basis in February 2015.Committee Profiles: Kieran Campbell, assistant coach
IrishRugby.ie He was an assistant coach for the Ireland under-20 team at the 2017 World Rugby Under 20 Championship and the 2019 Six Nations Under 20s Championship. In January 2021 he was appointed the Ireland under-20s head coach, which he will combine with his role with the Ulster academy."Kieran Campbell named Ireland Under-20s head coach"
BBC, 13 January 2021 He left his positions with the Ulster academy and the Ireland under-20s in the summer of 2021."Kieran Campbell To Leave Ulster And Ireland Under-20 Roles This Summer"
Irish Rugby, 23 March 2021

Personal life

Kieran is married to Orla.

References

External links

Ulster profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Kieran 1979 births Living people Connacht Rugby players Dungannon RFC players English rugby union players Galwegians RFC players Ireland international rugby sevens players Ireland international rugby union players Ireland Wolfhounds international rugby union players Irish Exiles rugby union players London Irish players Irish people of Sri Lankan descent Rugby union players from Hillingdon Ulster Rugby players Ulster Rugby non-playing staff