Rodney B. Kafer (born 25 June 1971) is a retired

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 for the

ACT Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005–2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the brumby, feral horses whi ...

and the Australian

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

. He is remembered by Brumbies fans for kicking a drop-goal in the final minute in a 2001 game against the Cats giving the Brumbies a one-point win. He now works for

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

as a rugby commentator and has a weekly segment on the show ''Rugby HQ'' called "Fox Field". He attended Canberra Grammar School in his youth. At the age of 15 he was diagnosed with

type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar for ...

. Kafer was the first player to have received winners medals from the major Southern and Northern Hemisphere rugby tournaments, 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 ...

with the

in 2001 and the

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 ...

with the

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

in 2002. Kafer moved to the northern hemisphere in 2001 and spent two years playing for the Leicester Tigers before signing as player coach for Saracens F.C. However, when

Wayne Shelford Sir Wayne Thomas "Buck" Shelford (born 13 December 1957) is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer and coach who represented and captained New Zealand (the All Blacks) in the late 1980s. He is also credited with revitalising the performance ...

was sacked as head coach, Kafer was appointed in his place and gave up playing. In addition to his commentating commitments with

Rugby, Kafer previously owned a telecommunications company and sold it in 2014 and now works in the Australian Rugby Union in a high performance role.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kafer, Rod 1971 births Living people Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players ACT Brumbies players Australian rugby union commentators Leicester Tigers players People educated at Canberra Grammar School People with type 1 diabetes Rugby union players from Newcastle, New South Wales Rugby union centres Rugby union fly-halves Australian expatriate sportspeople in England