Matt Sexton is a former

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

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 and head coach of the

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 ...

franchise, as well as the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

team. He is currently a talent identification coach for the

New Zealand Rugby Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it b ...

Playing career

He made his debut for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

in 1991, eventually making 128 appearances in his 10 years there. This included him leading Canterbury on their 1994 tour of the United Kingdom. He was also a member of the

franchise in their first six seasons in the competition, although he missed the

2000 Super 12 season The 2000 Super 12 season was the fifth season of the Super 12, an annual rugby union competition contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 2000, with each team playing all the others onc ...

through injury. He was also the first forward to score a try in Crusaders colours, when he did so in the

1996 Super 12 season The 1996 Super 12 season was the inaugural season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 1996, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular s ...

game against the . In 2001, he joined Irish province

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

, where he played for three seasons under head coach

Alan Solomons Alan Solomons (born 31 July 1950) is a former rugby union coach. Law career After studying law at the University of Cape Town, Solomons practised law for 20 years where he was a partner at Sonnenberg, Hoffmann & Galombik. Professional rugby coa ...

. He also played for the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

under Solomons in 2003 and 2004.

Coaching career

He then went into coaching, becoming the Academy manager at

(where he was the coach of the Crusaders Knights, the development squad of the Crusaders), the

Tasman Rugby Union The Tasman Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere, a bay at the north end of the South Island in New Zealand. Headquartered in Nelson, TRU is New Zealand's newest provincial union, founded in 2006 with ...

and was also on the coaching team for the New Zealand team in the

2009 IRB Junior World Championship The 2009 IRB Junior World Championship (known as the 2009 IRB Toshiba Junior World Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the second annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaces the now de ...

. In 2012, Sexton's former coach at Ulster,

(then the Director of Rugby at the South African

franchise ) renewed the relationship with Sexton when he appointed head coach of the , as well as the domestic

team effective from July 2012 in a deal until the end of 2014. However, on 30 July 2013, Solomons left the Kings to take up the role of Head Coach of

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

. On 15 December, Sexton also announced that he was leaving the Kings so that he could return to his home country

, where he took up a role as a talent identification coach with the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sexton, Matt New Zealand rugby union coaches New Zealand rugby union players Living people 1970 births Ulster Rugby players Crusaders (rugby union) players Canterbury rugby union players