Nick Stiles (born 17 October 1973) is an Australian 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 ...

coach and a former player for the

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 competition ...

. He also played in twelve Tests for

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 ...

as a loosehead prop.

Family and early life

Stiles was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, but grew up in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. He was educated at

Gregory Terrace Gregory Terrace is a road in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Geography Gregory Terrace commences at an intersection with Wickham Terrace and College Road in Spring Hill (). It travels in a north-easterly direction through Spring Hill, Fortitu ...

, where he rowed in the first VIII and played rugby for the first XV. Stiles was selected for the

Australian Schoolboys The Australian Schoolboys refer to junior teams that represent Australia in various sports. The name is mainly used in rugby league, rugby union and baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players ...

side in 1992 and named as captain. In 1993 and 1994, Stiles played in the Queensland Under 21s side and was a fringe player in the

squad. During this time, Stiles played for Souths in the Brisbane club competition. Because of the physical development and technical ability needed to play front row at representative level, his progression to the senior Queensland side took several years. In 1997, he switched clubs to join

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

where he was made the club captain – a role he held until 2005 when he retired from playing. He captained the Australian Universities team in 1997 and 1998.

Rugby career

Queensland

After having been a squad member for nearly five years, Stiles made his senior Queensland starting debut in 1998. He made his

Super 12 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

starting debut for the Reds at Cape Town in 1999, in a match with the Stormers. The Reds managed to finish on top of the table that year for the regular season but squandered their semi-final home advantage and were defeated by 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 ...

who went on to win the 1999 title. Stiles became the first choice at loosehead prop for the Reds in 2001, and remained so for the next five seasons. An injury to Queensland's captain Elton Flatley in 2004 allowed him to assume the captain's role at the Reds. In the last season of his Reds contract in 2005, the 31-year-old Stiles was still playing strongly enough to be the starting loosehead. However, he wasn't offered a new contract and played his final Queensland game against New Zealand A in June 2005, finishing with 93 state caps.

Australia

Stiles was selected in the Wallaby squad for the European tour in 2000. While he did not play any matches, he gained crucial experience training with the team ahead of the 2001 season. The Australians as reigning Rugby World Cup champions would be seriously challenged and Stiles would play a crucial role for the Wallabies in defending their status. In 2001, he was selected in the Australian squad to face the touring

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

side. It was the first such visit from the Lions for twelve years. Stiles made his Australian debut in the lead-up to the series, playing in the match against New Zealand Maori. He scored a try in the 41-29 win over the visiting including a number of All Black players. The ARU did not award test caps for the encounter, though, unlike past matches with the Maori. A good performance against the Maori led to his selection for first Lions test at Brisbane. The Australian team lost in a stunning defeat to the British side but the selection panel persevered with the players and Stiles kept his place for the Melbourne test. After a poor start, the Wallabies finished the stronger in the second test to secure a 35-14 win. They then went on to claim the Tom Richards Trophy the next week in the decider at Sydney. In the following month, the Wallabies retained both the

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition originally staged between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has va ...

and Tri-Nations trophy. The Australians were the dominant force in world rugby. From 2001 to 2002, Stiles was an integral part of the team. Although in good form during the Super 12, he lost his place in the Wallabies squad in 2003 as the Reds finished with a losing record for the season.

Coaching

In his playing years, Stiles had taken several off-field roles, including Coaching Director of the Queensland Rugby Union in 1995 and 1996, and coaching several first XV school teams. After retiring from playing, he was the head coach of Premier Grade at University of Queensland from 2005 to 2007. He then moved to Japan as the forwards coach of the

Kubota Spears Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay (commonly known as the Kubota Spears) is a Japanese rugby union team based in Funabashi, Chiba, Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, Chiba participating in the Japan Rugby League One. The team rebranded as Kubota Spears Fu ...

for three seasons, before returning to Australia to take up the forwards coaching position at 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. ...

. Stiles was at the Force from 2010 to 2013, before linking again with the Queensland Reds as the forwards coach for 2014 season. He was appointed as head coach of Brisbane City for the inaugural season of Australia's

National Rugby Championship The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following t ...

, winning the competition twice in his first two seasons in 2014 and 2015. Stiles was appointed as co-interim head coach of the Reds alongside Matt O'Connor two games into the 2016 season, after Richard Graham was sacked as head coach. On 26 July 2016, he was named the new head coach of the franchise.

References

External links

Scrum.com stats
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stiles, Nick Australian rugby union coaches Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Rugby union props Queensland Reds players 1973 births Living people Melbourne Rebels coaches Rugby union players from Melbourne Rugby union players from Brisbane University of Queensland alumni