Simon Kennewell (born 2 January 1997) 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 ...

player. He represents

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 ...

sevens rugby Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

. Born in

Collaroy Collaroy may refer to: *Collaroy Plateau Collaroy Plateau is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Collaroy Plateau is 22 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local govern ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Kennewell joined the Australian Sevens program in September 2015 after impressing at the national Sevens championships in March and then at the

2015 Commonwealth Youth Games The 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games, officially known as the V Commonwealth Youth Games, and commonly known as Samoa 2015, was the fifth Commonwealth Youth Games which started in the year 2000. It was held from 5 to 11 September, 2015 in Apia, the ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

. A series of powerful performances at the high-class event in

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō'') of Tuamasaga. The Apia Urban A ...

in September 2015 persuaded the national Sevens program to offer him a permanent contract while still at school. Kennewell has gone on to earn a further 23 World Series caps, accumulating 43 tries and selection in two HSBC Dream Team. Kennewell has been a main figure in the nation's sevens setup since cementing his spot in the team. In the sevens format of the game, Kennewell plays as a centre or forward. Whilst in the sevens program, Kennewell was also selected in the Australian U-20s team to compete at the U-20s World Cup in both 2016 and 2017 where he featured predominantly as a centre or wing. Born and bred in Sydney, Australia, Kennewell also has English heritage and eligibility. Representative Honours include

Newington College Newington College is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Single-sex education, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primar ...

1st XV (2013–15), Australian Schoolboys 2014 and 2015, Australian U20s 2016 and 2017, and Australian Mens 7s team from 2016-present.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennewell, Simon 1997 births People educated at Newington College Australian rugby union players Male rugby sevens players Australia international rugby sevens players Living people Rugby union players from Sydney Randwick DRUFC players 21st-century Australian sportsmen