Birth name | Michael Byrne | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 2 December 1958 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 200 cm (6 ft 7 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | St Paul's College, Manly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Michael Byrne (born 2 December 1958), nicknamed Mick the Kick, [2] is a former Australian rules footballer and rugby union coach, whom specialises in kicking and team skills. Byrne played with Melbourne, Hawthorn and Sydney in the Victorian Football League (VFL) from 1977 to 1989. He also coached his junior side in 1994–95. Currently Byrne is the head coach of Super Rugby Pacific team Fijian Drua.
A 200 cm tall ruckman, Byrne started his career at Melbourne in 1977 and one game into his sixth season with the club decided to cross to Hawthorn. Byrne kicked 8 goals straight in his debut game for the Hawks against Footscray in 1982. He finished the year with 47 goals. In 1983, Byrne finished equal fifth in the Brownlow Medal and was a member of Hawthorn's premiership side, kicking three goals in the Grand Final.
He holds the Hawthorn record for the most behinds in a VFL/AFL game without a goal, after kicking 0.8 in a game against Melbourne in 1985. In the history of the league, only Stuart Spencer and Tom Allen are known to have kicked more behinds without a goal (11). [3] [4] [5]
Byrne moved to Sydney in 1987, playing 21 games for the Swans before his retirement at the end of the 1989 VFL season. In all Byrne played 167 league games and kicked 150 goals.
Following his retirement, Byrne became involved in coaching, with his long kicking ability proving an advantage as he became a skills coach in rugby union. He worked as a coach in England and Scotland in the early 2000s. [6] Byrne was appointed skills coach of the Leinster Rugby Club alongside Australian coach Matt Williams in the 2002–03 season. [2] In 2003, Byrne, as well as Williams, left Leinster for Scotland for the same roles. [2]
In the role from 2003 to 2005, Byrne left Scotland following an appointment by New Zealand as a skills and kicking coach in May 2005, [7] which saw him in the role for over a decade. During his tenure as specialty coach of New Zealand, Byrne won two rugby world cups (2011, 2015), eight Tri Nations / Rugby Championship trophies (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014) and a British and Irish Lions tour (2005). Before leaving New Zealand, Byrne was quite involved with Auckland-based Super Rugby team the Blues whilst simultaneously remaining inside the All Blacks coaching team. [8] When Byrne left New Zealand in December 2015, [7] the team had accrued a win percentage above eighty-seven percent and is often praised as having deep involvement in building the "All Blacks Empire". [9]
Several months after leaving New Zealand with a desire to be closer to his family in Brisbane, Queensland, Byrne was hired as a skills coach for the Wallabies (July 2016) on a four-year contract, [2] [10] [11] working alongside coach Michael Cheika. Unfortunately, during his four years with the Wallabies, the team failed to win a single major trophy. However, did win the Mandela Challenge Plate (2016, 2017, 2018), the Puma Trophy (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), the James Bevan Trophy (2016, 2017), the Hopetoun Cup (2016) and the Trophée des Bicentenaires (2016). Byrne was with the Wallabies from July 2016 to March 2020. [11] [12]
Team | Span | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Win % |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Zealand | May 2005 – December 2015, 10 years, 7 months | 146 | 128 | 2 | 16 | 87.67% |
Australia | July 2016 – March 2020, 3 years, 8 months | 49 | 23 | 2 | 24 | 46.94% |
On 24 September 2021, Byrne was announced as the head coach of the Fijian Drua ahead there first season in the Super Rugby (2022). [13] [14] [15] It is the first role Byrne has had as a head coach of a major professional team.
The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the touring British Isles team.
Matthew Coleman Burke is an Australian former international rugby union player and sport presenter on Sydney's 10 News First.
Edward Jones is an Australian rugby union coach and former player. He most recently coached the Australia national team from January until October 2023. He previously coached Australia, Japan and England. He returned to the role of Japan head coach in January 2024.
Bradley Carnegie Thorn is a New Zealand Australian rugby union coach and former rugby league and rugby union footballer. Born in New Zealand, he represented Australia in rugby league and New Zealand in rugby union in a twenty-two year career as a player, starting at age nineteen and finishing at age forty-one. He was the head coach of the Australian Super Rugby Pacific team, the Queensland Reds. Thorn is their second longest-serving coach in history and their longest serving coach in the professional era.
Berrick Steven Barnes is a former Australian professional rugby union footballer. His usual position is fly-half or inside centre. He is previously played with Japanese Top League clubs Panasonic Wild Knights and the Ricoh Black Rams, as well as in the Super Rugby competition with the NSW Waratahs and Queensland Reds. He also played for the Wallabies in international matches.
Joshua Fraser is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club and the Gold Coast Suns in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Michael Cheika is an Australian professional dual-code rugby coach and former player who has been coaching the Argentina national team since 2022.
Mosese Nasau Rauluni is a retired Fijian rugby union footballer. He usually plays at scrum half, and played for Saracens in the Guinness Premiership in England. He has played for Fiji, including captaining them. He is the younger brother of Jacob Rauluni and first cousin of Waisale Serevi.
Isakeli "Isa" Nacewa is a former rugby union player and coach. Born in New Zealand of Fijian descent, he represented the Fiji national team, winning one cap in 2003.
Kurtley James Beale is an Australian professional rugby union representative player who has made over 90 national representative appearances in a ten-year playing career at the world-class level. He is of Aboriginal descent, has had a long Super Rugby career with the New South Wales Waratahs and has played for the Melbourne Rebels and the Wasps club in England. Beale usually plays at full-back or centre but can play fly-half or winger. In 2011 Beale received the John Eales Medal, awarded to Australian rugby's Player of the Year.
Max Gawn is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A ruckman, 209 cm tall and weighing 111 kg, Gawn is capable of contributing in both the ruck and forward line. A basketballer and rugby union player at a young age, he pursued his career in Australian rules football and was drafted to the Melbourne Football Club with the thirty-fourth selection in the 2009 AFL draft. He made his AFL debut in the 2011 AFL season. Knee and hamstring injuries hampered his first four seasons in the AFL before he moved into the number-one ruck position at Melbourne in 2015 along with selection for the 2016 All-Australian team. Gawn was named as Melbourne's captain at the start of the 2020 AFL season, and in 2021 led the club to its first premiership since 1964.
Bernard Foley is an Australian rugby player of Irish descent. He plays professionally for the Australia national rugby team and the New South Wales Waratahs in Super Rugby. He can cover both fullback and fly-half as well as inside centre. Foley has earned the nickname "the iceman" after successful game winning penalty goals, 2 August 2014, 18 October 2015.
Dave Rennie is a New Zealand and Cook Islands professional rugby union coach and former player. He will take over the Kobe Steelers as head coach for the 2023-24 season. He previously was the head coach of the Australia national rugby union team from 2020 to 2023, having previously coached New Zealand sides the Chiefs, Manawatu, Wellington, the New Zealand U20, as well as in Scotland, with Glasgow Warriors from 2017 to 2020. Rennie's playing position was Centre. In November 2019 he was named the head coach of the Australian national team until being sacked in January 2023.
The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following the change of the Australian rugby TV broadcasting deal from Fox Sports, who had funded the competition, to Stan Sport. The 2020 competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reece Hodge is an Australian professional rugby union player who plays in a variety of positions within the backline. Playing his junior career primarily at fly-half, Hodge's initial positions for the Rebels was fullback and wing, while for Australia it was wing, before eventually moving to centre. In his most recent appearance for Australia Hodge played at inside centre. Hodge plays for French club Bayonne in the Top 14 and the Australia national team. Starting his professional career with the Australian Super Rugby franchise, the Melbourne Rebels, by his departure in 2023, he reached 100 appearances for the team, and became the most capped player.
The Fijian Drua is a professional rugby union team based in Fiji that competes in the Super Rugby. The team was created by the Fiji Rugby Union and launched in August 2017, shortly before the 2017 National Rugby Championship. The team previously competed in the Australian National Rugby Championship competition between 2017 and 2019, when the tournament was disbanded.
The 2018 National Rugby Championship was the fifth season of the top flight of Australian domestic rugby union. The competition began on 1 September and concluded on 27 October. Matches were broadcast on Fox Sports and the championship featured eight professional teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji.
Conor Nash is an Irish professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
The 2019 National Rugby Championship was the sixth season of the top flight of Australian domestic rugby union. The competition began on 31 August and concluded on 26 October. The match of the round was broadcast live each week on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports, with all matches streamed on rugby.com.au live. The championship featured eight professional teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji.
Notes
Citations