Matthew Proudfoot (born 30 January 1972) is a South African rugby union coach and former player who represented

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. He is currently an assistant coach with the Namibia national team. He was an assistant coach with

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, winning the 2019 World Cup. In January 2020 he became forwards coach for

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 ...

, and left at the end of 2022. He had a coaching spell at Stellenbosch University before joining Namibia as their forwards coach for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. He played for

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

and

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 pl ...

, and won four caps for Scotland between 1998 and 2003.

Playing career

Proudfoot played in the Vodacom Cup and then the Currie Cup for the

Leopards The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus ''Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

after which he moved to Scotland to play for Melrose. Proudfoot then played for

. He won 3 international caps while with Edinburgh, before returning to South Africa. Injury forced him into semi-retirement but he still played for the Leopards and the Blue Bulls. Glasgow Warriors coach

Hugh Campbell Hugh Campbell (born May 21, 1941) is a former American football and Canadian football player, coach, and executive. He served as a head coach in three different professional gridiron football leagues: the Canadian Football League (CFL), the Unit ...

persuaded him to return to full-time Scottish professional rugby. In 2003 he returned to Scotland to play for

. He won 1 more international cap while with the Warriors.

International

He qualified for Scotland through his Dumfries grandfather. He made his debut for

in 1998 against Fiji. He was capped 4 times for the national team finishing with a cap against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 2003.

Coaching career

Proudfoot coached the forwards at

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: * Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provin ...

, Stormers,

North-West University af , Noordwes-Universiteit , image = https://www.nwu.ac.za/sites/www.nwu.ac.za/files/NWU-Logo-SW.png , motto = ''Dit Begin Alles Hier (Afrikaans)'' ''Gotlhe Go Simolola Fano (Setswana)'' , mottoeng ...

and

Kobelco Steelers The Kobelco Kobe Steelers are a Japanese rugby union team owned by Kobe Steel, and based in Kobe. They were the first ever Top League champions when the League started in the 2003-2004 season. The team rebranded as Kobelco Kobe Steelers ahead of ...

in Japan. In May 2016 Proudfoot became an assistant coach with

where he contributed to the Springboks winning the 2019 Rugby World Cup. In January 2020 Proudfoot joined

as forwards coach ahead of the 2020 Six Nations.

References

External links

Glasgow Warriors Profile
1972 births Living people Edinburgh Rugby players Glasgow Warriors players Melrose RFC players Rugby union players from Klerksdorp Scotland 'A' international rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union coaches Scottish rugby union players South African people of Scottish descent White South African people Rugby union props {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub