Kevin Yates (born 6 November 1972 in

Medicine Hat, Alberta Medicine Hat is a city in southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff to the northwest are within ...

, Canada) is an English

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 at

Prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

for

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

in the French

Fédérale 1 Le championnat de France de première division fédérale, a.k.a. Fédérale 1, is a French rugby union club competition, the fifth highest level of amateur rugby. The competition has been organised by the Fédération Française de Rugby since 20 ...

. Yates professional career began at Bath. He was a member of the side that won the 1995/96 Zurich Premiership. He also played in the 1998 Heineken Cup Semi-final against Pau, but did not feature in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

CA Brive Club Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin, also referred to as CA Brive, Brive () or CAB, is a French professional rugby union club based in Brive-la-Gaillarde, in the Corrèze department. They compete in the first-tier Top 14 competition. Briv ...

. Yates made his

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 ...

debut on the 1997 tour of Argentina. Yates received a 6-month ban he received for biting the ear of London Scottish flanker Simon Fenn on 10 January 1998 whilst playing for Bath. He subsequently moved to play for the

Super 12 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

side

Wellington Hurricanes The Hurricanes ( ; formerly the Wellington Hurricanes) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Wellington that competes in Super Rugby. The Hurricanes were formed to represent the lower North Island, including the East Coast, H ...

, making his debut against the

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...

in the opening round of the 2000 Super 12. Yates also helped the

Wellington Lions The Wellington Rugby Football Union (known as the Wellington Lions for competition reasons) are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington Region. The main stadium is Sky Stadium (formerly named West ...

win the 2000

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

. He joined

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

in 2001, winning the 2001–02 European Challenge Cup. Yates joined

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

in 2004. In 2007 he was called up for England's tour of South Africa alongside Saracens teammates

Matt Cairns Matt Cairns (born 31 March 1979) is a former rugby union footballer who played at hooker for Harlequins and has been capped for the England national side as well as representing England in the Saxons and Sevens teams as well as at several ag ...

and Andy Farrell. Due to Nick Wood being injured, Yates started against

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 ...

, a record period of time between

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

. On this tour he was capped twice; his first senior England caps for 10 years. At the end of the 2007–08 season he moved to Nice, where he plays alongside

Dan Luger Daniel Darko Luger MBE (born 11 January 1975) is a former English rugby union international who was a member of the squad that won the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Rugby career Club career Dan Luger was born in Chiswick and is the son of a Croat ...

and Will Johnson.

References

External links

Official RNCA page

Hurricanes profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Kevin 1972 births Living people English rugby union players Canadian rugby union players Sportspeople from Alberta Sportspeople from Medicine Hat Bath Rugby players Sale Sharks players Saracens F.C. players Hurricanes (rugby union) players England international rugby union players Rugby union props English people of Canadian descent Wellington rugby union players Rugby Nice Côte d'Azur players