Peter Playford (born 11 July 1980) is an Australian

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 ...

football coach and a former professional player for the Waratahs and

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 feral horses which inh ...

on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

. Playford was head coach of the

Sydney Stars The Sydney Stars is a former Australian rugby union football team that competed in the National Rugby Championship (NRC) in 2014 and 2015. The Stars team was established as a joint venture between the Sydney Uni Football Club, Sydney University a ...

team for the 2015 season of the

National Rugby Championship The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following t ...

. One of his nicknames is P² (P squared).

Early life

Peter Playford was born in Sydney. He attended St. Joseph's College and was selected for the

Australian Schoolboys The Australian Schoolboys refer to junior teams that represent Australia in various sports. The name is mainly used in rugby league, rugby union and baseball. Other popular team sports in Australia such as cricket, basketball, association footbal ...

team.

Rugby career

Playford made his state debut for the Waratahs in 2000 against Argentina. He was selected for the Australia U-21 side in 2001, and briefly switched codes to play

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 ...

for the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

in 2002. After spending 2003 and 2004 focusing on his economics degree at Sydney University, Playford returned to senior rugby and scored a record 29 tries for

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

in the 2005 Tooheys New Cup, eclipsing the previous best of 27 tries scored by Randwick's Terry Ryan in 1971. He was selected for the Waratahs’ tour of Eastern Europe before joining the Tasman Makos for their debut season in the

Air New Zealand Cup An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

in 2006. Playford was the Makos’ leading try scorer for the season, including a four-try haul in the side's 56–16 win over Northland. He joined the

in 2007 on a two season deal to play in the Super 14 competition. Playford finally returned to the Waratahs in 2009. He retired from playing rugby after the 2009 Super 14 season.

Coaching

Playford took the position of assistant coach to Sydney University's first grade team for the 2013 season. In 2014 he was appointed as assistant coach of the

team for the inaugural season of the

, and became head coach the following year.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Playford, Peter 1980 births Living people Australian rugby union players ACT Brumbies players New South Wales Waratahs players Rugby union wings Rugby union players from Sydney Sydney University Football Club players 21st-century Australian sportsmen