Despite this, when original captain Andy Dalton had to withdraw with an injury,[3] Kirk was made captain—and led New Zealand to victory over France in the 1987 Rugby World Cup Final.
[4] Kirk abruptly retired from competitive rugby after the World Cup win, at the age of 26, to take up a Rhodes Scholarship at Worcester College, Oxford with a degree in PPE.
[5] Kirk was also a staffer for Prime Minister Jim Bolger, and worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.
From October 2005 to December 2008[6] he was chief executive officer of Fairfax Media—publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review in Australia; and The Dominion Post and The Christchurch Press in New Zealand.
His most recent involvement with rugby came in late 2009, when he led an independent arbitration panel appointed by SANZAR to settle an impasse between its three member unions (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia) over whether the planned 15th franchise in the Super Rugby competition would be awarded to Australia or South Africa, Ultimately, Melbourne was chosen and began play in 2011.