Matt Williams (rugby union coach)

Matt Williams

Birth name	Matthew Brian Williams
Date of birth	1960 (age 63–64)
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Rugby union career
Coaching career Years Team 1997–1999 NSW Waratahs 2000–2003 Leinster 2003–2005 Scotland 2007–2010 Ulster 2017 Timișoara Saracens

Matt Williams (born 1960) is an Australian rugby union coach who is best known for having led the Scotland men's national rugby union team between 2003 and 2005. Williams has also coached Eastwood, West Harbour Leinster, Ulster, Narbonne, Ireland A and a Rest of Ireland XV. Since 2015 he has worked as a pundit for Virgin Media Television and has written for the Irish Times since 2011.

Playing career

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

Coaching

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, immediately taking them to the semi-finals in both 1993 and 1994. A major improvement from their lowly position when he arrived. Later that year he gained representative recognition when 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. Williams, a lifelong "Balmain Tigers man" said it was "one of the best experiences of his life."

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.

He coached players including Chris Whitaker, David Campese, Matt Burke, Tiaan Strauss, Phil Kearns and Jason Little.

Ireland

In the autumn of 1999, he acted as backs coach in Leinster Rugby's European Cup campaign, a prelude to becoming the province's head coach in 2000. Williams also undertook the role of defensive coach for the Irish national team in 2001. He was the first Australian Super Rugby Coach to move to Europe.

Williams said that in the three years at Leinster he "was part of a great group of men" who rose through the European rankings from thirty-five to second. Leinster won the inaugural Celtic League Final and were semi-finalists of the European Cup.

Williams coached the former British and Irish Lions Captain Brian O'Driscoll, as well as Gordon D'Arcy, Shane Horgan, Malcolm O'Kelly and Denis Hickie.

Williams also was appointed Head Coach of Ireland "A" in 2002-03 and won the Six Nations title with the "A" team.

Scotland

After success with Ireland A, Williams was "head hunted" by the SRU and, in 2003, he was appointed as the head coach of Scotland. Williams was only the second Australian in over a century to be appointed as a head coach in the Six Nations Championship - and the Scottish national men's team's first foreign coach.

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 a very troubled Ulster team mid-season, after they had sacked former coach Mark McCall. Ulster were last in the Magners League and in danger of missing out on the ERC. Williams got Ulster off the bottom of the ladder and into the next European season.

Williams then resigned from the post of Head Coach at Ulster Rugby in May 2009.

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. After two years Williams was in deep disagreement with Australian owners, who he felt were not taking the club in the direction that was best for the club's future. He resigned in July 2012. Williams has since been proven correct in his beliefs as Narbonne have had several horror years, culminating with the club being relegated to Federal 1 (French 3rd Division) and the Australians losing control of the club. Several of the young players he "mentored" at Narbonne have gone on to excellent playing careers in the Top 14, including Vincent Rattez who was Capped for France in 2020.

He then returned to Australia and in 2013 he set up the rugby programme at the Knox Sports Academy in Sydney. The academy results progressed quickly under his coaching, resulting in Knox winning the CAS in 2015 and 2016. The programme also produced several elite players, including Connor Watson who was contracted by the Sydney Roosters, and Wallabies Lachlan Swinton who is contracted with the NSW Waratahs in Super Rugby and Nick Frost at the Brumbies.

Williams had a brief three-month stint, advising the Timișoara Saracensclub in Romania, however, the club was paralysed with financial difficulties, and he left in November 2017, with the club leading their pool of the EPCR.

Media

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

Williams has worked extensively 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.