Kendrick Graeme Lynn (born 30 November 1982) is a former New Zealand

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 ...

player. A versatile utility back, he last played for

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

in the French

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

competition.

Playing career

Provincial Rugby

Lynn was educated at St Peters School in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, New Zealand and played in

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

age group teams while at school. He then studied at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

, completing a BPhEd degree in 2006. After graduation, Lynn chose to stay in the South Island, playing his club rugby for the Invercargill Rugby Club and making his provincial debut for Southland in the

2006 Air New Zealand Cup The 2006 Air New Zealand Cup was the first season of a new structure for the National Provincial Championship (known as the Air New Zealand Cup for sponsorship reasons), contested by teams from New Zealand. The season ran from July to October 20 ...

. By the

2009 Air New Zealand Cup The 2009 Air New Zealand Cup was the 33rd provincial rugby union competition, the fourth since the competition's reconstruction in 2006, involving the top 14 provincial unions in New Zealand. It ran for 15 weeks from 30 July to 7 November. It was ...

, Lynn had developed into one of the Stags' top performers, starting 14 games and scoring 4 tries as Southland claimed the

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challenge ...

that year. In the

2010 ITM Cup The 2010 ITM Cup season was the fifth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on July 29, when Taranaki hosted Northland. It involved the top fourteen rugby union ...

, Lynn missed substantial time through injury but still recorded 3 tries in only 8 starts. After 6 seasons with Southland, Lynn moved north to sign with

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty () is a large bight (geography), bight along the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stretches from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. Called ''Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi'' (the Ocean ...

for the

2012 ITM Cup 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Super Rugby

On the back of his solid form with Southland, Lynn was selected to the Highlanders squad for the

2009 Super 14 season The 2009 Super 14 season kicked off in February 2009 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 30 May, when the Bulls won their second Super Rugby title with a decisive 61–17 victory over the Chiefs at Loftus Versfeld sta ...

. Used mainly on the wing, he made 8 appearances and 5 starts, and had his finest performance in the team's victory over 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 ...

Rugby Park Stadium Rugby Park is a sports venue in Invercargill, New Zealand, and the home ground for Southland in the Mitre 10 Cup. Rugby Park is located on the corner of Elles Road and Tweed Street. The ground has a regular season capacity of 18,000. It h ...

, scoring a crucial second half try - his first in Super Rugby - which sealed the victory. In the

2010 Super 14 season The 2010 Super 14 season kicked off in February 2010 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 29 May. The 2010 season was the fifth and last season of the expanded Super Rugby, Super 14 format. The schedule, which covers 3� ...

, Lynn was shifted to centre and emerged as a more central part of the squad, making 10 starts and scoring a further 2 tries, while impressing with his workrate and defensive play. He further built on this in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, playing every minute of every game for the Highlanders. A neck injury curtailed Lynn's

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

season, and he was limited to just two substitute appearances for the Highlanders. He used the off season to backpack around central and South America for 4 months with his wife, Rebecca. Upon returning to NZ he was called into the Chiefs squad and enjoyed being a part of their championship winning team of 2013.

Europe

Following the

2013 ITM Cup The 2013 ITM Cup season was the eighth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on 15 August, when Counties Manukau (National Provincial Championship), Counties Man ...

, Lynn left New Zealand for France, signing with

of the

Pro D2 The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...

competition. In his first year in Lyon, he scored 7 tries in 15 matches to help the club earn promotion to the

Rugby Sevens

In 2008 he was selected for the New Zealand Sevens team taking part in the

IRB Sevens World Series The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World ...

tournaments in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, which New Zealand won.

Coaching career

In 2016 Kendrick was asked to move into the staff as the Backs and Skills coach for Lyon in the Top 14. That year they achieved their goal of maintaining their position in the competition. The 2017 season the club continued its rise and after 8 rounds sat top of the table in the French league. The season finished with Lyon qualifying for the quarter finals in Toulon. Lyon - against all odds - pulled off a massive upset victory, securing an historic semi-final berth that was played at Groupama Stadium in Lyon verse Montpellier. Lynn has played a significant role in the development of a fast, free flowing attack which is capable of scoring at will and a tough, resolute defence.

External links

Highlanders Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynn, Kendrick 1982 births Living people New Zealand rugby union coaches New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union players from Tokoroa University of Otago alumni Sportspeople from Cambridge, New Zealand Southland rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players Bay of Plenty rugby union players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in France Male rugby sevens players Lyon OU Rugby players People educated at St Peter's School, Cambridge Rugby union players from Waikato