Kyran Bracken

Kyran Paul Patrick Bracken MBE (born 22 November 1971 in Dublin, Ireland) is a former rugby union footballer who played at scrum-half for Saracens, Bristol and Waterloo.

He won a total of 51 England caps and captained the team on three occasions, retiring from international rugby in 2004.

Bracken made his England debut in November 1993 against the All Blacks. However, a stamp from Jamie Joseph seriously injured his ankle, putting him out of action for three months and leaving him with a permanent weakness. He started the 1994 Five Nations, but was dropped halfway through in favour of Dewi Morris. He missed the summer tour to South Africa, studying for law exams, but played in the 1995 Five Nations. Injury kept him out of the 1995 World Cup.

Bracken joined Saracens in 1996 and was part of the team that won the Tetley’s Bitter Cup against Wasps in 1998.

He missed out on selection for the 1997 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa in favour of Matt Dawson and Austin Healey, but was called up as injury replacement for Rob Howley but did not play in the tests.

He then became an irregular scrum half for England, with Dawson generally having the upper hand but being frequently injured. Bracken himself had a serious back injury that kept him out for most of the 1999-2000 season, including the 1999 World Cup.

He missed out on selection for 2001 Lions tour to Australia, instead captaining England on a three match development tour of North America. By then he was mostly having to compete with Matt Dawson as first-choice “number 9″. In 2003 he played in the summer tour beating Australia and New Zealand. He appeared four times for England during the 2003 World Cup, mostly as a substitute or blood replacement. He won his 50th cap against Wales in the quarter-final, and gained his last cap in the semi-final against France.