Matthew Corker (born 30 November 1982) is a professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player for

Richmond RFC Richmond Football Club is a rugby union club from Richmond, London. It is a founding member of the Rugby Football Union, and is one of the oldest football clubs (of any code). It fields teams in both men's and women's rugby; the men's first t ...

. Hailing from

Broadstairs Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St Peter's, and had a population in 2011 of ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and playing rugby from a young age, Corker formerly played for

London Wasps Wasps Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union team. They last played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby until being suspended on 12 October 2022. On 17 October 2022 the club entered administration, resulting in r ...

and

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain) was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, ...

. His early playing career began playing for

Chatham House Grammar School (May Chatham House Flourish) , established = 1797 , free_label_3 = Merged , free_3 = 2011 , closed = , type = Grammar schoolAcademy , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = , head ...

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

where he progressed up to being

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the 1st XV. Whilst at Chatham House, he played for local rugby side

Thanet Wanderers Thanet Wanderers RUFC was founded in 1886, and are based in Broadstairs. They currently play in London and South East Division Two South East. The club runs 4 senior teams (one being veterans) plus a junior section for boys and girls. Honors ...

and developed his game. After completing his

A-Levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

he joined the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

studying

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and while at the University of Bath he gained international recognition with the England Universities side. His debut for England Universities came on Sunday 30 January 2005 against Australia Universities at

Clifton RFC Clifton Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union club founded in Clifton, Bristol. Over the years the club's home games have been played in a variety of locations in northern Bristol, though never in Clifton itself; since 1976 they have ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. England ran out 18-11 winners and Corker completed a full 80 minutes at second row in the victory. At university Corker also played for the 1st XV in the

BUCS British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the governing body for higher education sport in the United Kingdom. BUCS was formed in June 2008 following a merger of British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) and University College Sport ...

(British Universities Sports Association) Premier Men's South Division A. Corker stands at (1.98 m) 17 st 6 lb (111 kg) and played for a number of teams whilst finishing his course at university, including

Havant RFC Havant RFC is an English rugby union club, playing in the RFU's London SE Premier , and is a member of the Hampshire RFU. Havant currently run four senior men's teams – 1st XV, 2nd XV (Dolphins) – who play in the Solent League, 3rd XV ('A' ...

in the Powergen London League during the 2003–04 season. Corker joined

in the summer of 2005 on completion of his studies and made his debut in a pre-season friendly against the

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

at The Causeway Stadium,

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

on Sunday 7 August 2005. Corker came on as a substitute and helped the London Wasps to a 70–26 victory over their opponents in front of 2,147 spectators. On Friday 1 December 2006 Corker played in Wasps 26–15 defeat by

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

Vicarage Road Vicarage Road is a stadium in Watford, England, and is the home stadium of championship club Watford. An all-seater stadium, its current capacity is 22,200. History It has been the home of Watford since 1922, when the club moved from Cassi ...

, coming on as a second-half substitute for Richard Birkett. The match, in the first round of the

EDF Energy Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

marked the return of

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 b ...

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

winning flanker Richard Hill returning for Saracens.

References

External links

Wasps profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corker, Matt Living people 1982 births Wasps RFC players People from Broadstairs Alumni of the University of Bath People educated at Chatham House Grammar School