Matt Williams is an Australian rugby union coach who has coached in Australia, Ireland, and other parts of Europe. Today he is a media pundit speaking on radio and television.
Williams started in coaching Western Suburbs U 20s in Sydney, Australia in 1992. A year later he became head coach of his former club Eastwood in Sydney in 1993, immediately taking them to the semi finals in both 1993 and 1994. A major improvement from their lowly position when he arrived. Later that year he gained representative recognition when he was appointed fitness and skills coach for the Emerging Wallabies' tour of Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. In 1995 his coaching stints included New South Wales A, New SouthWales Sevens, and as assistant coach for an Australian XV against England A. He was also a coaching assistant at the Wallaby World Cup camps. He also coached the Balmain Tigers 7s team in the Coca-Cola World Sevens in Sydney, winning the Cup. Williams, a lifelong "Balmain Tigers man" said it was "one of the best experiences of his life." In 1996 he became manager and assistant coach for the NSW WaratahsSuper 12 campaign. For the next three years he was Head Coach for the NSW Waratahs. Williams was instrumental in mentoring and coaching such great players as Chris Whitaker, David Campese, Matt Burke, Tiaan Strauss, Phil Kearns and Jason Little.
Ireland
In the autumn of 1999 he acted as backs coach in Leinster Rugby's European Cup campaign, a prelude to becoming the province's head coach in 2000. Williams also undertook the role of defensive coach for the Irish national team in 2001. He was the first Australian Super 12 Coach to move to Europe. Williams' said that in the three years at Leinster he "was part of a great group of men" who rose through the European rankings from thirty five to second. Leinster won the inaugural Celtic League Final and were semi-finalists of the European Cup. Williams coached the former British and Irish Lions Captain Brian O'Driscoll, as well as Gordon D'Arcy, Shane Horgan, Malcolm O'Kelly and Denis Hickie. Williams also was appointed Head Coach of Ireland "A" in 2002-03 and won the Six Nations title with the "A" team. This led to him being "head hunted" and appointed Head Coach of Scotland. This unique challenge saw Williams as only the second Australian in over a century to be appointed as a head coach in the Six Nations Championship and the first foreign head coach of the Scotland national rugby union team, holding the position from December 2003 to April 2005. He returned to Australia and became head coach of West Harbour rugby club in Sydney from 2006 to 2007 before returning to Ireland to take over a very troubled Ulster team mid season, after they had sacked former coach Mark McCall. Ulster were last in the Magners League and in danger of missing out on the ERC. Williams got Ulster off the bottom of the ladder and into the next European season. While enjoying the role, living away from his young family proved too much and he resigned from the post of Head Coach at Ulster Rugby in May 2009. In 2010 he led a group of Australian businessmen in taking over the famous Club Narbonne Méditerranée, in France. Williams held three roles within the club. Director Sportif, Head Coach and General Manager. After eighteen months Williams was in deep disagreement with Australian owners, whom he felt were not taking the club in the direction that was best for the club's future. He resigned in July 2012. Williams has since been proven correct in his beliefs, as Narbonne have had several horror years, culminating with the club being relegated to Federal 1 and the Australians losing control of the club. He then returned to Australia and in 2013 he set up the rugby programme at the Knox Sports Academy in Sydney. The academy results progressed quickly under his coaching, resulting in Knox winning the CAS in 2015 and 2016. The programme also produced several Australian Schoolboy players and Connor Watson who was contracted by the Sydney Roosters and now is playing with the Newcastle Knights in the NRL and Lachlan Swinton who is contracted with the NSW Waratahs in Super rugby. Williams had a brief three-month stint, working with Timișoara Saracens in Romania, however the club was paralysed with financial difficulties and he left in November 2017, with the club leading their pool of the EPRC.
Media
Since 2007 Williams has worked extensively in the Irish media. He is a writer with The Irish Times for all International matches. He is a guest commentator on Today FM's Matt Coopers, Last Word, Newstalk's Off the Ball, and the Second Captains podcasts. He has worked on Irish television with TV3 and its successor channel, Virgin Media One.
