Kyle Godwin (born 30 July 1992) is a 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 who plays for

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

in international rugby, having previously played one test for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 2016. He previously played for French club

Lyon OU Rugby Lyon Olympique Universitaire Rugby or LOU is a French professional rugby union team based in Lyon that currently competes in the Top 14, the highest level of the country's professional league system, having been most recently promoted for the 20 ...

in the

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, and the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby, Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competitio ...

and

Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005 to 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 feral horses which inh ...

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 ...

. He also spent two years playing for

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

in the URC, becoming a fan favourite. His regular playing position is

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

, but has also found himself on the wing and fly half at times.

Early life

Godwin was born in

and moved with his family to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

in Western Australia at the age of 8, where he played for the Associates club. He first came onto the scene when he was selected for the Australian Schoolboys team which toured Ireland and the United Kingdom in 2009. He was also selected to represent Australia under 20 team that competed in the

2012 IRB Junior World Championship The 2012 IRB Junior World Championship was the fifth IRB Junior World Championship, an annual international rugby union competition for Under-20 national teams. This competition replaced the now defunct Under 19 and Under 21 world championship ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Super Rugby

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 ...

, Godwin made his

debut for the

against 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 ...

in Perth. He went on to play 52 games for the

before moving to the

. During his time at the Force, he won Rookie of the Year, Members Most Valuable Player and the

Nathan Sharpe Nathan Sharpe (born 26 February 1978) is a retired professional Australian rugby union player. He began his rugby career at the Queensland Reds in 1999 before joining the newly created Western Force in 2006, where he captained the club until hi ...

Medal. He moved to

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

in 2016 to play for the

where he played 24 games over two seasons. He then returned back from Ireland to compete with the Western Force once again for an additional two years and finished his super rugby career with a total of 107 super rugby caps.

Pro 14 Rugby

On 20 March 2018, it was announced that Godwin was to play in the Pro 14 having signed for

Connacht Rugby Connacht Rugby is one of the four professional provincial men's rugby union, rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Connacht B ...

for the 2018/19 season. The contract being of two-year duration initially. On successful completion of his two-year contract with Connacht, the popular Aussie returned to Australia by signing again for

in Perth.

International career

Godwin played international age-group rugby for Australia up to Under 20s. He gained his one senior cap for 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 ...

against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

on 19 November 2016, playing the full game at inside centre. In 2024, having served the required 'stand-down' period of five years or more since last playing for his original international side, Godwin received his first call-up for the country of his birth. He made his debut for Zimbabwe against the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

on 6 November 2024, coming on in the second half as a replacement at inside centre, joining a backline featuring his former teammate from the Western Force Ian Prior.

Playing statistics

Super Rugby

References

External links

Western Force profileBrumbies Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Godwin, Kyle 1992 births Australia international rugby union players Australian rugby union players Zimbabwean rugby union players Zimbabwean people of British descent Western Force players ACT Brumbies players Rugby union fly-halves White Zimbabwean sportspeople Zimbabwean emigrants to Australia People educated at Aquinas College, Perth Sportsmen from Western Australia Connacht Rugby players Living people Rugby union players from Harare New South Wales Country Eagles players Perth Spirit players Rugby union players from Perth, Western Australia Rugby union centres Lyon OU Rugby players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Expatriate rugby union players in Ireland Australian expatriate rugby union players in France 21st-century Australian sportsmen