Brendan McKibbin (born 19 September 1985) is a retired professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer. He last played for

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

. He previously played for the Waratahs and the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team based in Brisbane for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union ...

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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

. His regular playing position is scrum-half.

Early life

McKibbin was born in

Irvine Irvine may refer to: Places On Earth Antarctica *Irvine Glacier * Mount Irvine (Antarctica) Australia * Irvine Island * Mount Irvine, New South Wales Canada * Irvine, Alberta * Irvine Inlet, Nunavut Scotland *Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotlan ...

, Scotland. He spent his early life in

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

before he moved with his family to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Australia when he was three years old. He attended

Marist College Ashgrove Marist College Ashgrove (abbreviated as MCA) is an Independent school, independent Roman Catholicism in Australia, Roman Catholic Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding primary school, primary and secondary school, secondary school for Sin ...

where he played rugby for the 1st XV. During his final year at Ashgrove in 2002, he was selected to play for Queensland at the Australian Schools Rugby Championships. McKibbin played open-side flanker at schoolboy and under-19 level, only switching to scrum-half to play senior rugby.

Rugby career

McKibbin was invited to join the

Reds Reds may refer to: General * Red (political adjective), supporters of Communism or socialism * ''Reds'' (film), a 1981 American film starring and directed by Warren Beatty * Reds (January Uprising), a faction of the Polish insurrectionists duri ...

Rugby College from the

Brothers A brother (: brothers or brethren) is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingl ...

club in

. He played for the Queensland U19 side in the Trans Tasman Challenge competition in 2004. In 2007, he played for the

Ballymore Tornadoes Brisbane City is an Australian rugby union football team based in Brisbane that competed in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). The team is one of two Queensland sides in the competition, the other being . Brisbane City is organised and manage ...

in the

Australian Rugby Championship The Australian Rugby Championship, often abbreviated to the ARC and also known as the Mazda Australian Rugby Championship for sponsorship purposes, was a domestic professional men's rugby union football competition in Australia, which ran for onl ...

, appearing in four matches during the tournament. The following year, McKibbin scored 223 points for

to be the leading points scorer in

Queensland Premier Rugby Queensland Premier Rugby is a semi professional club rugby union competition in Queensland, Australia. Nine clubs play in the competition, eight clubs are from Brisbane, and one club is from Gold Coast.The premiership has been contested in i ...

for the 2008 regular season. His tally was 8 tries, 51 conversions and 27 penalties. Brothers narrowly lost the grand final to Easts in 2008, but McKibbin won the Alec Evans Medal for Premier Player of the Year. In 2009, he made his

Super 14 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

debut for the

against the Chiefs. After winning four caps for the Reds, McKibbin went on to captain Brothers to a hard-fought grand final win over Souths in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition. He also won the Tony Shaw Medal for Player of the Grand Final. McKibbin moved to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

at the end of that year, to take up an opportunity with the Junior Waratahs. He joined the Eastern Suburbs club to play in the

Shute Shield The Shute Shield, currently known as the Charter Hall Shute Shield, is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team fro ...

competition, and won the 2010 Ken Catchpole Medal for the most outstanding player in Sydney club rugby. He played limited minutes in

for the Waratahs in 2011, but became the team's first choice halfback and goalkicker in 2012. McKibbin was called up to the

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 som ...

' squad for the last Test match of the year in 2012, being named on the bench for the final match of the Spring Tour, against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. In January 2015 it was announced that McKibbin had signed for then English Premiership club

on a two-year contract from the start of the 2015/16 season.

References

External links

Waratahs player profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mckibbin, Brendan 1985 births Living people Australian people of Scottish descent Australian rugby union players London Irish players New South Wales Country Eagles players New South Wales Waratahs players Queensland Reds players Rugby union players from Irvine, North Ayrshire Rugby union scrum-halves People educated at Marist College Ashgrove Eastern Suburbs RUFC players Australian expatriate rugby union players in England 21st-century Australian sportsmen