Matthew Dunning (born 19 December 1978) is an Australian former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer. He played as a

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

for the Waratahs and

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby, Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competitio ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

, and represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. He coached the Balmain rugby club in Sydney 2013/2014.

Early life

Dunning was born in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, Canada, but grew up in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia. He was educated at Northholm Grammar School. In 1996, he was selected to represent New South Wales at the Australian Schools Rugby Championships. He went on to play for Australian Schools, U19s and U21s. His brother is Canadian prop Casey Dunning.

Rugby career

Dunning made his debut for the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play t ...

in a Ricoh Championship match against Queensland in 2000, and played his first Super 14 match against the Chiefs in 2001. He made his international test debut on 25 October 2003 during the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...

at the age of 24. The match against

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

was won 142-0 and is the largest winning margin for an Australian side. The only other match he played in during the tournament was the 17–20 loss against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the final. He is also known for his

drop goal A drop goal, field goal, or dropped goal is a method of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league and also, rarely, in American football and Canadian football. A drop goal is scored by drop kicking the ball (dropping the ball and then kick ...

in the 2003 Super 12 season. His team, the

NSW Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play ...

, needed a bonus point to make the finals. Since the Waratahs were playing with advantage, and still needed two more tries to gain the bonus point, Dunning decided to kick a drop goal, which he assumed would miss. This would result in the penalty being awarded, which would allow the ball to be kicked into touch and possibly a line-out drive that could lead to a try. Unfortunately, the kick hit its mark and sailed through the posts, much to his and his teammates' dismay. Dunning was selected for the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

and played in all four matches for Australia in the tournament including the 10–12 loss against

in the quarter final. His scrummaging style has at times been criticized.U.K. journalist Rob Wildman, writing in Issue 47,318 of the

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

(Sports Section pS8: Tuesday 24 July 2007) described him as a "foldable camp seat, not averse to conning referees into awarding penalties when his side is in a tight spot" In 2008, Dunning ruptured his right Achilles tendon playing for the Wallabies against the Barbarians at Wembley Stadium. It was the first time rugby union had been played at the stadium since it was rebuilt and the surface was unstable and dangerous. The injury kept him out of the 2009 Super 14 season but after a good spell with his Sydney club Eastwood, he forced his way back into the Wallabies for the 2009 northern hemisphere tour. In 2010 he joined the

, where he played two seasons. Dunning went to France in 2011 to join Top 14 club

Biarritz Olympique Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque (; ), usually known simply as Biarritz, is a French professional rugby union team based in the Iparralde, Basque city of Biarritz in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine ...

, but was forced to withdraw from his contract and return to Sydney to undergo neck surgery. He played for Eastwood in their Shute Shield Grand Final Win over Sydney University in 2011, before retiring from top-level rugby.

References

External links

Waratahs profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunning, Matt 1978 births Australian rugby union coaches Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players New South Wales Waratahs players Western Force players Australian people of Canadian descent Canadian rugby union players Rugby union players from Calgary Living people Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union props 2003 Rugby World Cup players Eastwood Rugby Club players