Joe Roff

Joe Roff

Date of birth	20 September 1975 (1975-09-20)
Place of birth	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	101 kg (15 st 13 lb)
School	The Armidale School Marist College Canberra
University	University of Southern Queensland University of Oxford
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Wing / Fullback
Amateur clubs
Years	Club / team
	Tuggeranong Vikings
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2001–2002 2005–2006	Biarritz Olympique Kubota Spears
Super Rugby
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1996–2004	Brumbies	86	(285)
correct as of 25 May 2004.
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1996–2004 1992–1993	Australia Australian Schoolboys	86	(244)
correct as of 25 November 2004.

Joe Roff (born in Melbourne 20 September 1975) is a retired Australian rugby union footballer and a product of the Tuggeranong Vikings Rugby Union Club in Canberra, who played on the wing or at fullback for Brumbies and Australia and played 5 tests as a centre in the early part of his test career. He also had a spell at the French club Biarritz and in 2005-6 at Kubota Spears in Japan's Top League Of his 86 caps, 62 were won in consecutive games from 1996 to 2001. His final game saw him captain Oxford against Cambridge in the 2007 Varsity Match.

Early life

For a time, he attended The Armidale School in Armidale New South Wales. He was also a student at Marist College Canberra. Joe Roff's father, Glenn Roff, is Principal of St John's College, Woodlawn on the Far North Coast of NSW. Joe's older brother, Jake, who also works at St John's College, Woodlawn, is a musical collaborator with Rupert McCall, putting his iconic Australian poems to music.^{[citation needed]}

Rugby career

After a successful junior career he was selected at age 19 for Australia's 1995 world cup squad, making his debut against Canada and scoring a try, followed by another 2 against Romania.

By 1996 he was a more regular feature in the starting test side before becoming a firm test player for the 1999 world cup win and the back to back tri nations wins of 2000 and 2001. He was also a capable goal kicker, kicking 18 penalties and 20 conversions in his test career.

Roff scored the intercept try in the second British Lions Test in 2001 which turned the test in Australia's before they went on to win the game, squaring the series. They went on to win the series. He was known for his blistering pace, deft touches, and work at the breakdown. Until March 2007 he was the top try scorer in Super Rugby before he was overtaken by Doug Howlett. He also holds the record for most tries in a Super 12 season, scoring 15 in 1997.

Midway through the super 12 season of 2004 he announced that he would retire at the end of the domestic international season. He was just 29 years old and had spent 10 years playing test rugby and amassed 86 test caps and 244 points. He farewelled the Brumbies in 2004 as the team took the Super 12 Final.

Oxford University

Roff matriculated at the University of Oxford, UK in October 2006 to read a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Harris Manchester College. He also made a return to amateur rugby by playing for the Oxford University (OURFC), colloquially known as the Dark Blues, representing the Blues in their traditional fixture against Cambridge at Twickenham Stadium on 12 December 2006. Oxford lost this match 15-6. On 6 December 2007, he captained the Blues to their third successive Varsity loss, losing 22-16 to Cambridge, before hanging up his boots for the last time.

Other

In January 2007, he won the "United Kingdom-based Young Australian of the Year for 2007" for his services to Australian Rugby in general.

During his years with the Wallabies, the rhyming slang term "Joe Roffie" gradually worked its way into to the Australian vernacular, being an abbreviation for coffee.

External links

• Wallabies Profile
• University of Southern Queensland profile
• University of Oxford [1]
• Oxford University Rugby Football Club
• Rugby-Heroes.net
• Rugby Union - ESPN Scrum