Career
His position is lock and his play has been described as abrasive. Byrnes has played rugby at the highest level in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Byrnes then made his Super Rugby debut for the Queensland Reds in 2009 before joining the expansion Melbourne Rebels in 2011.
In 2011 Byrnes played in the Rugby World Cup for Russia.
Byrnes played rugby as a student while at Newington College (1987-1999) which boasts rugby International players Nick Farr-Jones and Philosophy Kearns as old boys. In 2009 Byrnes played eleven of the Reds thirteen games.
Prior to the Reds, Byrnes played for Sydney Fleet, and before that for Easts in Sydney. In June 2011 Byrnes was named in Russia"s "preliminary training squad of 50 players" to train for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
Byrnes played for Russia against United States of America, Italy, Ireland and his country of birth, Australia.
Byrnes continues his ambitions of playing for Russia and the next Rugby World Cup. In mid-2012 Byrnes travelled to Moscow to play with his Russian comrades in the Institutional Review Board Nations Cup.
