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

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

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 just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

half-back and former

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

head coach

Ivan Henjak Ivan Henjak (born 9 March 1963)http://broncos.com.au/index.php?page_id=individual_player&player_id=157&team_id=1 Accessed on 23 December 2008. Quote: "Born Croatia 9th Mar 1963" is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and ...

. 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, the same school as

Matt Giteau Matthew James Giteau (born 29 September 1982) is an Australian rugby union professional player who is playing with the LA Giltinis of Major League Rugby (MLR). Giteau joined the Giltinis after a short playing stint with the Gungahlin Eagles in ...

George Gregan George Musarurwa Gregan AM (born 19 April 1973) is a retired Australian rugby union player, and is currently Australia's most capped international player. Gregan was born in Lusaka, Zambia. He played Super 12 (now Super Rugby) for the Brumbies ...

and

Ricky Stuart Ricky John Stuart (born 7 January 1967) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Canberra Raiders in the NRL and a former rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. ...

. He played for the

Canberra Vikings The Canberra Vikings, formerly the Canberra Kookaburras, is an Australian rugby union football team that competes in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). The team is based at Viking Park in Wanniassa, and is backed by the Tuggeranong Vik ...

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 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

debut in 2003, playing for the

ACT Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005–2022 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 feral horses which inhab ...

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 a former Australian 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 the ...

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

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

where he came off the bench onto the wing with 10 minutes remaining in the game after

Clyde Rathbone Clyde Rathbone (born 23 July 1981 in Durban, South Africa), nicknamed "Rattlebones", is an Australian rugby union player. He plays for the Brumbies in Super Rugby. He also played internationally for Australia. He began his Australia career as a ...

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 Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. F ...

, 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 Haig Sare (born 25 March 1982) is a former Australian rugby union player. He played as centre or winger for the Western Force in the Super Rugby competition. He played schoolboy rugby for the Shore School in Sydney; represented Australia "A" and ...

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 Rugby ...

, 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 southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, 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 Toulonnais players Expatriate rugby union players in France Australia international rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in France Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian expatriate rugby union players Rugby union players from New South Wales Rugby union scrum-halves