Phillip Michael Matthews (born 21 January 1960) is a former Ireland rugby union international. He was a member of the Ireland team that won the

1985 Five Nations Championship The 1985 Five Nations Championship was the fifty-sixth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the ninety-first series of the northern hemisphere rugby ...

and the Triple Crown. He represented Ireland at the

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

and

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...

s. He also played for both the British and Irish Lions and the Barbarians. He captained both Ireland and the Barbarians. He subsequently served as a rugby union co-commentator with BBC Sport and

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

. Between 2010 and 2016 he served as the President of the National College of Ireland. His daughter, Hannah Matthews, is an Ireland women's field hockey international and played in the

2018 Women's Hockey World Cup The 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup was the 14th edition of the Women's Hockey World Cup, a field hockey tournament. It was held from 21 July to 5 August 2018 at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in London, England. Defending champions t ...

final.

Early years and education

Between 1970 and 1978 Matthews attended Regent House Grammar School. Between 1978 and 1986 Matthews attended

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

where he gained a BSc and a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in Zoology.

Playing career

Clubs and province

Matthews played rugby union at senior club level for

Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to: *Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK **Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950) **Queen's University of Belfast ...

, Ards and Wanderers. He also played for Ulster in the IRFU Interprovincial Championship. On 14 November

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

Matthews, along with

Nigel Carr Nigel Carr (born 27 July 1959) was an Ireland rugby union international whose promising career was cut short due to injuries sustained in an IRA bomb explosion. Early life Nigel John Carr was born in Belfast on 27 July 1959. He won Irish U-23 ...

, was a member of an Ulster team that defeated a touring

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 ...

15–13 at Ravenhill. Matthews and Carr were also teammates at Regent House Grammar School, Queen's University, Ards and Ireland.

Ireland

Between

and

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

Matthews made 38 full senior appearances for Ireland. On 10 November 1984 he made his senior international debut against

at Lansdowne Road. He was a member of the Ireland team that won the

and the Triple Crown. He subsequently represented Ireland at the

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two quarter-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 ...

. On 29 October

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

he captained Ireland for the first time against Western Samoa. He captained Ireland on 13 occasions, including at the

when Ireland came extremely close to defeating eventual winners Australia in the quarter-final. He won his 38th and final cap on 2 February

against Scotland at Lansdowne Road. Matthews international career has been commemorated on at least two postage stamps. He was the eighth Ireland rugby union international to appear on a stamp. Along with Steve Smith he was depicted on two stamps in a set of nine issued by Tadjikistan for the 1991 Rugby World Cup. In his stamp he is seen tackling Australia's

Michael Lynagh Michael Patrick Thomas Lynagh, AM (born 25 October 1963) is an Australian former rugby union player who played mainly as a fly-half. Lynagh represented Australia from 1984 to 1995, playing at both inside centre and fly half. Lynagh was capped ...

. He was also featured on one of the nine rugby union stamps issued by the Republic of Turkmenistan during 2000. Again he is playing against Australia at the 1991 Rugby World Cup. ;Notes

British and Irish Lions

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, Matthews played for the British and Irish Lions against France in a match to celebrate the Bicentennial of the French Revolution.

Personal life

Family

Matthews is married to Lisa Flynn, the daughter of former Ireland rugby union international, Kevin Flynn. Their daughter, Hannah Matthews, is an Ireland women's field hockey international and played in the

final.

Employment

Between 1994 and 2015 Matthews served as a rugby union co-commentator with BBC Sport. He was encouraged to become a co-commentator by

Jim Neilly James Bernard Neilly is a BBC broadcaster and sports commentator from Northern Ireland. He grew up in Merville Garden Village, Whitehouse, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland. Formerly a teacher of science in the Belfast Boys' Model School, Neilly jo ...

. He has also worked for

, including at the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

. Away from rugby union, Matthews spent twenty years working in the pharmaceutical and consulting industries where he held various roles in sales, marketing, human resources and general management. Between January 2007 and March 2010 he served as director of executive education at the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School at University College Dublin. Between March 2010 and June 2016 he served as the President of the National College of Ireland.

Honours

; Ireland * Five Nations Championship **''Winners'':

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

* Triple Crown **''Winners'':

; Ulster * IRFU Interprovincial Championship **''Winners'': ???

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Phillip 1960 births Living people Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Queen's University RFC players Wanderers F.C. (rugby union) players Ulster Rugby players Barbarian F.C. players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Rugby union flankers Irish rugby union commentators Alumni of Queen's University Belfast People educated at Regent House Grammar School Presidents of the National College of Ireland