Matt Burke

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For the Australian Rugby Union and League Player by the same name, see Matthew Burke (winger)

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Matt Burke
Personal information
Full name Matthew Burke
Date of birth March 26 1973 ( 1973-03-26) (age 35)
Place of birth Flag of Australia Sydney, New South Wales
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight 14 st 11 lb (94 kg)
School St. Joseph's College
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position Fullback
Amateur clubs
1990-1996 Flag of Australia Eastwood
Professional clubs Caps (points)
2004-2008 Flag of England Newcastle Falcons 58 (373)
Provincial/State sides    
1990-2004 Flag of Australia New South Wales 71 (1172)
Super Rugby    
1996-2004 Flag of Australia Waratahs 52 (959)
National team(s)    
1993-2004
1990-1991		 Flag of Australia Australia
Australia Schoolboys		 81
5		 (878)
7's National teams Tournaments
1993 Flag of Australia Australia 1

Matthew Burke (born March 26, 1973 in Sydney) is a retired Australian rugby union player. He grew up in Carlingford, New South Wales, and was schooled at St Gerard Majella Catholic Primary School, Carlingford[1] and St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill. He played at fullback and is the all time second-highest scorer for Australia in international rugby.

Contents

[edit] Early rugby career

Starting out by playing at St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, Burke's career in representative rugby began in 1990 when he toured the United States and Ireland with the Australian Schoolboys. He then progressed to the Australian Under 21s team in 1992 and 1993 at the same time as playing at the Hong Kong Sevens in 1992 and the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 1993. Burke made his Test debut in 1993 when he played in the Third Test against the South African Springboks.

[edit] Feats and playing style

In addition to being a leading fullback and playing in theWallaby for over a decade, Burke's third year as New South Wales Waratahs captain saw him become the first player in the history of Waratah rugby to play over 100 games.

Burke has met with particular success against New Zealand's All Blacks which included scoring one of Australia's greatest Bledisloe Cup tries, in 1996. From a standing start in Brisbane, Burke broke through numerous New Zealand tackles, throwing a dummy to off-balance several other All Blacks, before running 70 metres for a memorable individual try. In 1998 he scored all 24 of the Wallabies points against New Zealand at the MCG, a world record against the All Blacks; a deed he repeated when he scored all of Australia's 23 points to lead them to victory against the All Blacks in 2001.

As the Wallaby fullback in 1999 he scored 23 points against the All Blacks at Stadium Australia, 24 points against South Africa in the RWC semi final and 25 points against France in the grand final.

Burke's form suffered in games where his goal-kicking ability deserted him and he suffered a serious shoulder injury in 1998. Despite making it back in the squad for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, it has been speculated that the injury affected his playing style.

Burke was retained as vice-captain and goal-kicker for the 2002 season. During that time he kicked a penalty after fulltime to win the Bledisloe Cup in windy conditions at Stadium Australia.

[edit] Decline

After the 1999 World Cup, Burke had been plagued by many injuries which severely limited his return to form. Queenslander Chris Latham was soon competing with him for the fullback position. While his goal kicking and fairly regular try-scoring had saved Australia in many games his injuries would soon take their toll.

He then made a transformation into wing and then outside centre to accommodate Latham's place on the team. Many commentators noted that he was however, restricted from playing more freely while not in his favoured fullback position. In 2003, he was given the position back but did not perform well enough to retain it.

Midway through the 2003 Rugby World Cup he was axed from the starting lineup - drawing mixed reactions; he would be relegated to the bench for the rest of his Wallabies career. In 2004, he found himself dropped from the NSW waratahs. While he was injured early in that season - he still managed to score 62 points from his first six games; placing him ahead of Andrew Mehrtens in the all time points lead of the Super 12 (now Super 14) competition.

Coach Ewan Mckenzie's decision to drop Burke drew ire from many in the union fraternity, who accused Mckenzie of disloyalty and being shortsighted. This was further questioned when NSW attempted to poach footballer Andrew Johns from rival code league, despite John's and Burke's similar ages.

Owing to his lasting impact in the blue jersey, the NSW Waratahs player of the year now wins the ‘Matt Burke Trophy’.

Matt Burke played his last international test on August 21, 2004 against South Africa for the final few minutes.

Burke is still Australia's most capped fullback, having played 54 of his 81 Tests in that position. After breaking 1000 career points for NSW in 2003, he has scored 878 Test points for Australia.

[edit] Career in the United Kingdom

After losing his NSW contract, Burke was offered contracts by eight different clubs - including the Queensland Reds and teams in New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, France and England.

He played in the United Kingdom for the Newcastle Falcons in the Premiership He announced his retirement from professional rugby union on 29 May 2008.

Burke has been voted starting fullback in the 'Wallaby Team of the Decade', has also won the 'Player of the Year' at the Falcons and more recently has been named as captain of the side. In 2006, in his latest international appearance, he was named as starting fullback for the World XV Rugby team to play the South African Springboks for their first 2006 game.

In February 2007, he obtained a British passport (while retaining Australian citizenship), qualifying through his England-born mother. His main reason for doing so was Guinness Premiership regulations prohibiting teams from having more than one non-EU citizen on the field at any time. This will enable the Falcons to play him at the same time as New Zealand prop Joe McDonnell.[2]

In May 2008 Burke announced his immediate retirement from playing after failing to recover from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee suffered the previous October. .[3]

[edit] Honours

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Burke, Matthew [June 2005]. Matthew Burke: A Rugby Life. Pan Macmillan Australia, 5. ISBN 1405036710. 
  2. ^ Burke becomes a Brit!. Planet-Rugby.com (2007-02-08).
  3. ^ Burke's career is ended by injury

[edit] External links

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