Michael Foley (born 7 June 1967 in Sydney, Australia) is a former hooker for the

Australia national rugby union team The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the ...

and former Super Rugby head coach of the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. F ...

and New South Wales Waratahs teams. Foley competed in the Gladiator Individual Sports Athletes Challenge in 1995.

Playing career

A product of

St Patrick's College, Strathfield , motto_translation = Matthew 5:16: Let Your Light Shine , location = , Inner West Sydney , state = New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , other_na ...

, he represented New South Wales Schoolboys, Australian Schoolboys and NSW U21s. Foley played his club rugby for the Souths rugby club in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

and, despite being born in Sydney, went on to win 111 state caps for

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competitions ...

, 63 in the Super 12 competition. He made his test debut 31 May 1995 as a replacement against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

during the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...

. He was a key member in the 1999 Rugby World Cup winning side and again in the side that was victorious over the 2001 British Lions. His final cap was a victory against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

on 25 November 2001 at the age of 34. He retired from top-flight rugby in 2001 after notching up 50 international

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

Coaching

Immediately after retiring in 2001, he became the forward coach of Bath Rugby in the Aviva Premiership league. In 2006, he left Bath to become an assistant coach for the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

. He then signed on to become an assistant coach for the

NSW Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the sta ...

under Chris Hickey, whom he replaced at the end of the 2011 season. He became the Waratahs' seventh head coach in the team's history, but only remained in charge for one season before taking over at the

.Foley signs as Force coach
/ref> Foley was the Western Force's third coach and remained in the role for four years before vacating the position in 2016.

References

1967 births Living people Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Queensland Reds players Rugby union hookers Australian rugby union coaches Bath Rugby Western Force coaches Rugby union players from Sydney {{Australia-rugbyunion-bio-stub