Tai McIsaac (born 19 March 1975, in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

) 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. He is currently the head coach of the

Perth Spirit The Perth Spirit is a former rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, that played in the National Rugby Championship (NRC) from 2014 to 2017, winning the competition in 2016. The team was formed in 2007 to compete in the Australian Ru ...

team in Australia's

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 ...

. McIsaac played as a hooker for 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 ...

and

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team based in Brisbane for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union ...

in 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 ...

competition before retiring from playing in 2009.

Career

Prior to rugby, McIsaac had been a National League

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

player and represented Australian water polo in the under-21 team. Although he eventually specialised as a hooker, McIsaac started out in rugby at the age of 23, playing as a prop. He began his rugby career at Bond Pirates in the

Gold Coast District Rugby Union The Gold Coast and District Rugby Union, or GCDRU, is the local governing body for the sport of rugby union on Australia's Gold Coast. The GCRU runs a club rugby competition for men's teams with three senior grades, as well as a junior club com ...

, later moving on to the

Gold Coast Breakers The Bond University Rugby Club is an Australian rugby union football club that competes in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition. The club is based at the Bond University campus on Queensland's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast. Bond Univer ...

Queensland Premier Rugby Queensland Premier Rugby is a semi professional club rugby union competition in Queensland, Australia. Nine clubs play in the competition, eight clubs are from Brisbane, and one club is from Gold Coast.The premiership has been contested in i ...

. McIsaac's first professional contract was with the

in the Super 12 competition. He made his Super 12 debut in 2003 in a match against New Zealand team, the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

. Also that year, McIsaac toured Japan with Australia A. In 2005, he signed with the Western Force for their inaugural season in 2006. McIsaac made his debut for

the Wallabies The Australia men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for Australia. The Wallabies first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against ...

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 2006, and went on to claim 8 Test caps in that season. After four seasons at the Force, he retired from playing rugby in 2009. McIsaac began his coaching career with

Honda Heat Mie Honda Heat is a Japanese rugby union team based in Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan. The owner of the club is Honda Motor. (Suzuka is known for the Suzuka Circuit and the presence of car companies. Conveniently, the team uses Suzuka to jog ...

in Japan for the 2009–10 season. McIsaac was head coach of the

Toyota Industries Shuttles Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi (also called Toyota Jido Shokki as distinct from Toyota, which was renamed Toyota Verblitz) is a Japanese rugby team owned by Toyota Industries. They were promoted to Japan's top-flight league Top League for the ...

for several seasons until 2013–14. He then returned to Australia to take up an assistant coaching position at the

in 2015. He was also appointed head coach of the

for the 2015 season of the

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McIsaac, Tai 1975 births Australian rugby union coaches Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Living people Rugby union hookers Rugby union players from Brisbane Queensland Reds players Western Force players