Robert Bruce Kempson (born 23 February 1974 in Queenstown,

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 ...

) is a South African former

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 ...

footballer, and the Director of High Performance and interim head coach of the in

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 ...

. He played rugby between 1994 and 2003 for , and

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

side

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

, and also played in 37 test matches and one tour match for the South Africa national team. His regular position was prop.

Rugby career

Playing career

When Kempson was still attending Queen's College, in Queenstown, he was selected to play in the South Africa Schools side. After school, he joined , where he played his first class rugby until 1998. Kempson was selected to represent South Africa at various youth or development levels; in 1994, he represented the South Africa Under-23 team and later in the same year, he toured with a South Africa Development side to the United Kingdom. He was named on the bench for in a match in 1995 against in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, but failed to make an appearance; but his good form continued as he was named the South African Rugby Young Player of the Year for 1995 In 1996, he played for a South Africa 'A' team that toured the United Kingdom and in 1997, he played for both the Sharks and the

Emerging Springboks South Africa 'A', also formerly known as the Junior Springboks or the Emerging Springboks, are the second national rugby union team representing South Africa, below the senior national team, the Springboks. Until 2018, it was also under the Sou ...

against the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

during their 1997 tour to South Africa. On 20 June 1998, he finally made his test debut, playing off the bench in their match against in a mid-year rugby union international. He was promoted to the starting line-up for their 96–13 victory over a week later and retained the number one jersey in an 18–0 victory over . After the 1998 Currie Cup, Kempson move to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, where he joined

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

side and

Super Rugby 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 the . However, he failed to be selected in the South Africa side that competed at the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's professi ...

, instead joining Welsh side Newport on a short-term basis, here he joined fellow South Africans

Gary Teichmann Gary Hamilton Teichmann (born 9 January 1967) is a retired South African professional rugby union player. He played number eight and captained the South African national team, the Springboks, between 1995 and 1999. Teichmann stands 1.95 metres ...

Franco Smith Petrus Francois Smith (born 29 July 1972 in Lichtenburg, South Africa) is a former South African international rugby union player. He is now the head coach for Glasgow Warriors. His regular playing position was fly-half or centre. Playing c ...

and

Andy Marinos Andy Marinos is a Zimbabwean former rugby footballer who played rugby league and rugby union professionally and represented Wales at rugby union. Rugby league career Marinos signed for Australian rugby league club the Sydney Bulldogs in 1996, p ...

. He returned to South Africa to play for the Stormers and Western Province in 2000 and 2001, also forcing his way back into Springbok selection. However, a neck operation at the start of 2002 ruled him out of the entire 2002 Super 12 season. He then signed a deal with

side

, where he joined former Stormers coach Alan Solomons. He did return to South Africa to play Stormers during the 2003 Super 12 season and appeared for the Springboks in the

2003 Tri Nations Series The 2003 Tri Nations Series was contested from 12 July to 16 August between the national rugby union teams of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. New Zealand won the tournament for the fifth time. New Zealand regained the Bledisloe Cup whi ...

– where South Africa's 9–29 defeat to turned out to be Kempson's final test match for South Africa – before returning to Ulster. When Solomons left Ulster to join

English Premiership The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

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", ...

, he also lured Kempson across the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

. However, Kempson's time in Northampton was marred by injuries and he was released after just one season.

Coaching career

Kempson's relationship with Alan Solomons continued when his playing career ended, and Kempson was appointed a forwards coach at the , where Solomons was the technical director. He also assisted

Gary Gold Gary Gold (born 6 July 1967) is a South African rugby union coach who has coached at various levels of the game in England, Japan and South Africa. He was until December 2022 the head coach of the United States. Coaching career London Irish G ...

by coaching the

Vodacom Cup The Vodacom Cup was an annual rugby union competition in South Africa. Annual Vodacom Cup competitions were played between its inaugural season in 1998 and 2015 and was contested between February and May each year. The Vodacom Cup was the succes ...

team in 2007 and in their preparation for the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

. In 2009, Kempson moved to

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

to join Solomons' coaching staff at the , where he was also appointed the manager of their newly established academy in 2010. Kempson remained in his role as Academy Director over the next few years, also coaching the side in the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Under-21 Provincial Championships and the in the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Varsity Cup Young Guns competitions. In March 2016, the Eastern Province Rugby Union confirmed that Kempson would be the head coach of the for the

2016 Currie Cup qualification The 2016 Currie Cup qualification series was a South African rugby union competition organised by the South African Rugby Union which was played between 9 April and 23 July 2016. It featured all fourteen South African provincial unions plus the f ...

series.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kempson, Robbi South African rugby union coaches South African rugby union players South African people of English descent Living people 1974 births People from Queenstown, South Africa Rugby union props Sharks (Currie Cup) players Sharks (rugby union) players Stormers players Western Province (rugby union) players South Africa international rugby union players White South African people Rugby union players from the Eastern Cape Ulster Rugby players Alumni of Queen's College Boys' High School