Matt Henjak (born 25 November 1981) is an Australian former professional

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 ...

player. He played scrum-half for the Australian national team. Henjak, of Croatian ancestry, is the nephew of former

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

half-back and former

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

head coach Ivan Henjak. After being sacked by the Western Force in 2008 for an off field indiscretion, Henjak signed for Toulon in the Top 14 in France where he played until 2012. He played a further season in France with Dax in the Pro D2 competition.

Early career

Henjak was educated at St Edmund's College in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, the same school as

Matt Giteau Matthew James Giteau (born 29 September 1982) is an Australian rugby union professional player who plays for the San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby (MLR). Giteau plays as a Rugby union positions#Utility players, utility back. His usual posi ...

, George Gregan and

Ricky Stuart Ricky John "Sticky" Stuart (born 7 January 1967) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of Canberra in the National Rugby League (NRL) and a former rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1980 ...

. He played for the Canberra Vikings while playing in the Canberra club competition. In 2001 and 2002 Henjak represented Australia in the under 21 side as well as later playing for Australia A.

Super Rugby

He made his Super 12 debut in 2003, playing for the

ACT Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005 to 2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the brumby, feral horses wh ...

in a match against the Chiefs. Henjak was called up into the 27-man national squad as cover mid-year 2004 after

Elton Flatley Elton Flatley (born 7 May 1977, Tamworth, New South Wales) is an Australian former international rugby union footballer. He played for the Queensland Reds. Career Flatley was educated at St. Joseph's Nudgee College where he was signed into ...

broke his arm. Henjak made his international debut in 2004, on 26 June 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 ...

where he came off the bench onto the wing with 10 minutes remaining in the game after Clyde Rathbone was injured. He moved to the new Super 14 team, the

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 ...

, for the

2006 Super 14 season The 2006 Super 14 season started on 10 February 2006. The Grand Final was held on 27 May 2006. Super 14 is a provincial rugby union competition with 14 teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. This season was the first of the expansion, ...

. In 2008 he was involved in an altercation in which his teammate winger Haig Sare had his jaw broken, requiring surgery to insert a plate. Henjak was dismissed by the Western Force after he was found guilty of involvement in a bar room brawl.

England and France

Henjak went over to

for the latter part of 2004, having a short term stint with Harlequins. After being sacked from the Western Force in 2008, Henjak was linked to a code-switch to

and a move to the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...

, however Toulon gave him the chance to resurrect his rugby union career in France. After four seasons with Toulon in the Top 14 competition, he played a further season with Pro D2 Club, Dax, in the second tier professional competition before retiring from professional rugby.

Controversies

During his playing career, Henjak was linked with a series of scandals. In 2004, he was involved in an altercation in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, in which the complainant was secretly paid A$16,000 to drop assault charges.

References

External links

Western Force profileToulon RC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henjak, Matt 1981 births Australian rugby union players ACT Brumbies players Western Force players Harlequin F.C. players Living people Australian people of Croatian descent RC Toulon players Australian expatriate rugby union players in France Australia international rugby union players Australian expatriate rugby union players in England Rugby union players from New South Wales Rugby union scrum-halves Sportspeople from Queanbeyan People educated at St Edmund's College, Canberra 21st-century Australian sportsmen