Thomas Joseph Kiernan (7 January 1939 – 3 February 2022) was an

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

international

rugby union player 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 ...

. He won 54 caps for Ireland as a full-back between 1960 and 1973 and captained his country 24 times. At the time of his retirement he was Ireland's most-capped player, most experienced captain, and record scorer in internationals with 158 points. He captained the 1968 British Lions tour to South Africa, playing in all four internationals 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 ...

. His nephew,

Mike Kiernan Michael Joseph Kiernan (born 17 January 1961) is a former international rugby union player. He had 43 caps for Ireland, from 1982 to 1991, scoring 6 tries, 40 conversions, 62 penalties and 6 drop goals, in an aggregate of 308 points. He was cal ...

, also played for Ireland and the Lions. Kiernan was also the

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

team coach for their famous victory over the All Blacks in 1978. He received the IRB Distinguished Service Award in 2001. He died on 3 February 2022, at the age of 83.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiernan, Tom 1939 births 2022 deaths World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Rugby union fullbacks Munster Rugby non-playing staff Irish Exiles non-playing staff Cork Constitution players University College Cork RFC players People educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork Rugby union players from County Cork Munster Rugby players