Matt Williams (rugby union coach)

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Matt Williams (born 1960) is a former rugby union coach. Since 2015 he has worked as a pundit for Virgin Media Television and has written for the Irish Times since 2011.

Playing career[edit]

Williams played from 1978 to 1992 with both Eastwood and Western Suburbs Rugby Clubs in Sydney and with Swansea RFC in Wales.

Coaching[edit]

Williams started by coaching Western Suburbs U20s in Sydney, Australia in 1992. A year later he became head coach of his former club Eastwood in Sydney in 1993. ^{[citation needed]} Later that year he was appointed fitness and skills coach for the Emerging Wallabies' tour of Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa.

In 1995 his coaching stints included New South Wales A, New South Wales Sevens, and as assistant coach for an Australian XV against England A. He was also a coaching assistant at the Wallaby World Cup camps.

In addition to national coaching duties, Williams also coached the Balmain Tigers 7s team in the Coca-Cola World Sevens in Sydney, winning the Cup.

In 1996 he became manager and assistant coach for the NSW Waratahs Super Rugby campaign. For the next three years he was Head Coach for the NSW Waratahs in Super Rugby.

Ireland[edit]

In the autumn of 1999, he acted as backs coach in Leinster Rugby's European Cup campaign, becoming the province's head coach in 2000. Williams also undertook the role of defensive coach for the Irish national team in 2001. Leinster won the inaugural Celtic League Final and were knocked out at the semi-final of the European Cup.

Williams also was appointed Head Coach of Ireland "A" (not to be confused with the actual Irish team) in 2002-03 and won the Six Nations title with the "A" team.

Scotland[edit]

In 2003, he was appointed as the head coach of Scotland but was axed in 2005 having only secured 3 wins out of 17 test matches.^[1]

After his Scotland tenure, Williams returned to Australia and became head coach of West Harbour rugby club in Sydney from 2006 to 2007 before returning to Ireland to take over Ulster team mid-season, after they had sacked former coach Mark McCall.

Williams resigned from the post of Head Coach at Ulster Rugby in May 2009.^[2]

In 2010, he led a group of Australian businessmen in taking over the famous Club Narbonne Méditerranée in France. Williams held three roles within the club. Director Sportif, Head Coach and General Manager. He resigned in July 2012.

He then returned to Australia and in 2013 he set up the rugby programme at the Knox Sports Academy in Sydney.

Williams had a brief three-month stint, advising the Timișoara Saracensclub in Romania^{[citation needed]}, and he left in November 2017.

Media[edit]

Since 2007 Williams has worked in the Irish media. He has been the International Rugby guest writer with The Irish Times for international matches. He has been a guest commentator on Today FM's Matt Coopers, Last Word, Newstalk's Off the Ball, and the Eamon Dunphy podcasts.

Williams has worked on television. Working for the ABC in Australia on match analysis, then in Ireland with Setanta TV, TV3 and its successor channel, Virgin Media One. ^[3]

References[edit]