Matt O'Connor (rugby union)
| Full name | Matthew Gerard O'Connor | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 29 January 1971 | ||
| Place of birth | Canberra, Australia | ||
| Rugby union career | |||
| Current status | |||
| Position(s) | Co-head coach | ||
| Current team | Queensland Reds | ||
| Playing career | |||
| Position | Centre | ||
| National team(s) | |||
| Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
| 1994 | Australia | 1 | (0) |
Matt O'Connor (born 29 January 1971) is an Australian rugby union coach and a former international player. He is currently co-head coach of the Queensland Reds alongside Nick Stiles.[1] O'Connor was previously head coach of Leicester Tigers where he won the Premiership in 2013, and head coach of Irish province Leinster where he won the Pro12 in 2013–14.[2]
Playing career
O'Connor played rugby for the ACT in the 1990s and was awarded a single cap for the Wallabies against Ireland in 1994.[2]
He signed for rugby league club the Hunter Mariners in 1996 however the club's existence was threatened by the Super League war so he only played in several trial matches that year.[3] He played for Paris Saint-Germain in 1997.[4] O'Connor spent three years in Japan playing for and then coaching Kubota Rugby Team. He lived in Japan with his wife and three children.
Coaching
Returning to Australia, O'Connor joined the Brumbies as a backline coach in Canberra. He was appointed head coach of Australia A for the Pacific Nations Cup competition.
O'Connor joined the Leicester Tigers as the backline coach under Heyneke Meyer, replacing another former Australian centre, Pat Howard. Leicester won the English Premiership in 2009. O'Connor remained as attack coach when Richard Cockerill took over as head coach for the following season with the club going on to win the Premiership again in 2010. Cockerill was promoted to the position of director of rugby and O'Connor was appointed head coach of Leicester in July 2010,[5] and he was extremely influential in the Tigers Premiership win of 2013.
He was signed as the head coach of Irish province Leinster in 2013,[6][7][8] and won the 2013–14 Pro12 title in his first season.[9] The following season, when the team missed out on a play-off spot in the Pro12 and lost at the semi-final stage of the Champions Cup,[10][11] O'Connor was sacked by Leinster after completing two years of a three-year contract.[12][13]
O'Connor joined the Queensland Reds as attack coach for 2016. After Richard Graham was sacked two games into the season, O'Connor was appointed as co-interim head coach of the team alongside Nick Stiles.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Hunter Mariners 1908.com
- ↑ Matt O'Connor rugbyleagueproject.org
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links
- Matt O'Connor Leinster Rugby profile
| Preceded by | Leinster Rugby coach 2013-2015 |
Succeeded by Leo Cullen |
- Use dmy dates from July 2013
- Use Australian English from July 2013
- All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
- Living people
- 1971 births
- Australian rugby union coaches
- Australian rugby union players
- Leicester Tigers
- Australian rugby league players
- Paris Saint-Germain Rugby League players
- Hunter Mariners players
- Australia international rugby union players
