Matthew Utai (born 25 May 1981) is a 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 112 ...

footballer who last played as a er for the

Auburn Warriors The Auburn Warriors Rugby League Football Club were an Australian rugby league football club based in Auburn, New South Wales formed in 1953. They played in the NSW Ron Massey Cup competition and in Sydney's A-Grade competitions. 2017 In The 2 ...

in the

Ron Massey Cup The Ron Massey Cup (formerly known as the Bundaberg Red Cup and Jim Beam Cup) is a semi-professional development level rugby league competition in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, run jointly by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) and the ...

. A

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 ...

and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

international representative, he previously played for the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

and the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

, with whom he won the 2004 NRL premiership.

Background

Utai was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand.

Playing career

Early career

Utai was a

Berala Bears Berala Bears Rugby League Football Club is an Australian rugby league football club based in Berala, New South Wales established in 1965. They conduct teams for both junior, senior and women tag teams. They have had senior teams participate in th ...

junior and came through the development squads at the

.Matt Utai Tribute
''rleague.com'', 10 October 2009 In 2000, he started the year in Jersey Flegg, but his form warranted promotion to the Reserve Grade side and he played in 16 matches including scoring two tries in the Grand Final victory.

Canterbury- Bankstown Bulldogs

Making his

NRL 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 ...

debut in 2002 NRL season, he scored 13 tries in 21 appearances and played in only 2 losses all year. However, the club did not play in the semis because of salary cap breaches. He was named the

Dally M The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. As well as honouring the player of the year, who received the Dally M Medal, awards are also given to the premier player in each position, the b ...

Rookie of the Year. In 2003, he scored 21 tries in 27 games, including scoring triples in three consecutive games. Near the end of 2004, Utai scored 11 tries in the space of 7 games. He was a member of Canterbury's Premiership-winning team, playing in the 2004 NRL grand final on the wing in their 16–13 victory over the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

, scoring two tries in the match. In a 2006 match, Utai became the first player that season to be sent off, for a swinging arm on the

Stuart Flanagan Stuart Flanagan (born 5 January 1987 in Cooma, New South Wales, Australia) is a former Hungary international rugby league footballer who last played for the Appin Dogs and previously Cronulla Sharks in the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) ...

. He was suspended for five weeks. He played in the club's 2006 preliminary final defeat against the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

where he scored a try in a 37–20 loss. At halftime, Canterbury had led the match 20–6. In the 2007 NRL season, Utai missed nearly the entire year through injury, but returned in 2008 and made 12 appearances as Canterbury endured a horror year on and off the field which included star player

Sonny Bill Williams Sonny Bill Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player and as of recently is working for Stan Sports. He is only the List of dual-code rugby internationals#New ...

walking out on the club midway through the season. Canterbury would finish last in 2008 after winning five games all year. In 2009, Utai spent most of the season playing for the Bankstown City side in the

NSW Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserv ...

. He became the only Canterbury-Bankstown player to win five premierships across all grades when Bankstown City won the grand final that year.

Crusaders RL

He originally signed the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

Super League club for 2010 but failed to recover from a knee injury. Instead Utai joined NSW Country Rugby League Club, Young in Group 9. Utai was then released from Young and joined the Auburn Warriors. He would have signed with the

but Welsh Super League club Crusaders demanded a compensation fee of $130,00. Matt_Utai2

Wests Tigers

Utai joined the

in 2011, making his first appearance in the first round of the season. He was a regular on the wing throughout the season, and was re-signed for 2012, and signed a one-year extension in October 2012.

Auburn Warriors

In 2017, Utai signed on with the

in the Ron Massey cup. On 24 September, he scored the only try for Auburn in their

grand final defeat by The

Wentworthville Magpies The Wentworthville Magpies, colloquially known as ''Wenty'', are a rugby league team based in the suburb of Wentworthville in Sydney's Western Suburbs. Founded in 1963 (or 1937), the club has competed in various Sydney district competitions an ...

Representative career

Utai was selected to represent the New Zealand National Team on four occasions between 2002 and 2005, all matches against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Utai is of Samoan descent and made himself available for Samoa's

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

campaign. He was named in the

squad, and went on to score two tries in his three appearances on the wing.

Career highlights

*''First Grade debut:'' 2002 - Round 4, Canterbury-Bankstown vs

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian 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 pla ...

Aussie Stadium The Sydney Football Stadium, commercially known as Allianz Stadium and previously Aussie Stadium, was a football stadium in Moore Park, Sydney, Australia. Built in 1988 next to the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stadium was Sydney's premier recta ...

, 5 April *''Premierships:'' 2004 - Canterbury-Bankstown vs

*''Representative selection:'' 2002 - New Zealand vs Australia,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand, scoring one try *''Awards:'' 2002 -

'' Rookie of the Year'' *''Falcon:'' 2011 - Best Falcon Ever

References

External links

Matt Utai at ''NRL.com''Matt Utai at the ''Tigers''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Utai, Matt 1981 births Living people Auburn Warriors players Bay Roskill Vikings players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand people of Samoan descent New Zealand national rugby league team players Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players Rugby league wingers Rugby league centres New Zealand expatriate rugby league players Expatriate rugby league players in Australia New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia Rugby league players from Auckland Wests Tigers players Wests Tigers NSW Cup players