Matthew Rua (born 20 July 1977) is a New Zealand former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A New Zealand international representative forward, he played in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

for the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

, winning the 1999 NRL Premiership with them. He attended High School at Kelston Boys High School and Waitākere College.

Playing career

Rua was a

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

junior in 1996 and played for the

Junior Kiwis The Junior Kiwis side represents New Zealand in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kiwis, after the native bird of that name. Since 2010, they are an under-20s side, with players selected from the NRL, Intrust Super ...

. Rua signed for the

in 1998 and played for the

Norths Devils The Northern Suburbs Devils, or North Brisbane Devils, or often simply referred to as Norths for short, are a rugby league club representing the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They pl ...

in the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by fou ...

. In 1999 he was named the Melbourne club's rookie of the year, playing from the interchange bench in the Storm's

1999 NRL Grand Final The 1999 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 1999 NRL season. It was contested by the competition's two newest clubs: the Melbourne Storm, competing in only its second year (having finished the regular season ...

victory. Rua was selected for the New Zealand team to compete in the end of season

1999 Rugby League Tri-Nations The 1999 Rugby League Tri-Nations series was contested by Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand in 1999. It was the first multi-national rugby league tournament to feature the sport's three world powers since the 1989–92 World Cup (the 19 ...

tournament. In the final against Australia he played at second-row forward in the Kiwis' 22–20 loss. Having won the 1999 Premiership, the

traveled to England to contest the

2000 World Club Challenge The 2000 World Club Challenge was contested by 1999 NRL season premiers, the Melbourne Storm and 1999's Super League IV champions, St. Helens. The match was played on 22 January at JJB Stadium, Wigan before a crowd of 13,394. The Melbourne Stor ...

against Super League Champions St Helens R.F.C., with Rua playing at lock forward in the victory. Rua represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

eleven times between 1999 and 2001, including the 2000 World Cup. Rua had played 100 games for the club before being released at the end of the

2002 NRL season The 2002 NRL season was the 95th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fifth to be run by the National Rugby League. The season was affected by the competition-leading Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs' salary cap breach fi ...

. He signed with the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

for the 2003 season, but walked out of his contract before the season started for personal reasons. In 2006 he played for the

Waitakere Rangers The Waitakere Rangers were a team in the now defunct Bartercard Cup Rugby league competition in New Zealand. They represented five clubs based in Waitakere City including the Glenora Bears who previously represented the City in the Bartercard C ...

in the Bartercard Cup before being signed by the Central Comets in the

. This was enough to get him signed by the Melbourne Storm in 2007. However he only played one first grade game that season, his first since 2002, in Melbourne's round 13 win over the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

Mount Smart Stadium Mount Smart Stadium (formerly known as Ericsson Stadium) is a multipurpose stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the main home ground of the New Zealand Warriors of the National Rugby League, and occasionally hosts rugby union and internatio ...

in Auckland. He retired at the end of the year. Rua is of

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

heritage and has been involved with the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

national team as a coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rua, Matt 1977 births Living people New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Cook Island descent New Zealand national rugby league team players Melbourne Storm players Central Queensland Capras players Norths Devils players Junior Kiwis players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league second-rows Rugby league locks Waitakere rugby league team players