Philip Mooney is an Australian-born 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 former player. He coached Japanese team

Panasonic Wild Knights Saitama Wild Knights (formerly Panasonic Wild Knights) is a Japanese rugby union team formerly based in Ōta city, Gunma prefecture which plays in the Top League. Inspired by Tony Brown at fly half (though he was not captain), it dominated the l ...

in 2012, winning the

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

title that season, and prior to that was head coach of 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 ...

in the

Super 14 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 ...

competition.

Early life

Born in Brisbane on 19 January 1965 and is the son of former Australian rugby hooker Paul Mooney. Phil Mooney was an accomplished fly-half at junior level and premier level. Mooney attended

Brisbane Grammar School , motto_translation = Nothing Without Labour , established = 1868 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender = Boys , denomination = Non-denominational , slogan = , key_people = , ci ...

and played in the First XV at number 10 for three years. He was selected in Queensland schoolboys and played in the Brisbane under 19 team and later the Brisbane opens team.

Playing career

He played over 100 premier games for Brisbane rugby club Wests between 1986 and 1994. He was part of the Australian Club Championship winning side in 1986 against Parramatta (22-12). His team were also runners up in the World Club Championship in France that same year. Mooney was an accomplished cricketer playing three years in Brisbane Grammar School First XI (one year as captain). His cricket career lead him towards 8 years in First Class Cricket for Western Suburbs Cricket Club in Brisbane. However, it was his rugby career that directed him to becoming a professional coach. From 1986 to 1994 he played Premier grade in the position of fly-half. In 1995 he coached Colts One (now called Premier Colts), and coached Premiership winning Colts One for Wests in 1997 and 1998.

Coaching career

In 1999 he became assistant coach of the Wests Premier team with Damien Reidy and in 2000 and 2001 coached Premier level with

David Nucifora David Nucifora (born 15 January 1962) is a rugby union former player, coach and performance director. Playing career Nucifora played for Queensland and Australia. He played as a hooker. He played for the Queensland team from 1986–1993 and w ...

. In 2002 he coached Premier level with Angus Baker. His professional career took off in 2003 with acceptance to the High Performance Program at the Queensland Academy of Sport. In 2006 Mooney coached the Australian Under 19 team winning the Junior World Cup against New Zealand (17-13) in the UAE. This is the only Junior World Cup title (U19s, U20s U21s) won by Australia since the tournaments started in 2004. Mooney's 2006 team included players

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Digby Ioane Digby Ioane (born 14 July 1985) is an Australian professional rugby union footballer who played for the Colorado Raptors in Major League Rugby (MLR). Ioane previously played for Panasonic Wild Knights in the Top League in Japan. He also play ...

Christian Lealiifano Christian Leali'ifano (born 24 September 1987), is an Australian professional rugby player. He is of Samoan heritage, and his surname is spelled Leali'ifano when using Samoan diacritics. He currently plays for Moana Pasifika in the Super Rugb ...

and

Lachlan Turner Lachlan 'Lachie' David Turner (born 11 May 1987) is an Australian professional rugby union player who retired at the end of 2018 season. In his usual position of wing. He has a strong kicking game, which allows him to also play at fullback. ...

. He became assistant coach to Eddie Jones at the

in 2007 and took over as Head Coach of the Reds in 2008. He came into the role to rebuild the team after a 92-3 thrashing by the Bulls. He recruited many of the young players from his world cup winning junior side. At the end of 2009 he was sacked by the QRU as playmaker Berrick Barnes defected to the NSW Waratahs. Mooney claimed the new young players were the future and his time in the role of rebuilding the team was cut short. At the end of 2009 he worked for rugby league team 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 ...

as a specialist skills coach. He then was appointed Head Coach of

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

for the

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

for 2010 and 2011. In 2012 he returned to Brisbane and coached Wests Premier team. In 2013 he moved to Japan and coached the

and won the

and also the

All-Japan Rugby Football Championship The All-Japan Rugby Football Championship (日本ラグビーフットボール選手権大会 ''Nihon Ragubi- Futtobo-ru Senshuken Taikai'') is played at the end of the season and is doubling as the title playoff in the Top League. The first champ ...

. The feat of winning both titles had only been done twice before. In 2014 Mooney was assistant coach at Panasonic with

Robbie Deans Robert Maxwell Deans (born 4 September 1959) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player, currently the head coach of Japanese club Panasonic Wild Knights. He was head coach of the Australian national team between 2008 and 2013. Deans had ...

and again won another Top League title. Mooney returned to Brisbane in 2015 and accepted the role of Director of Rugby at the prestigious Brisbane Grammar School.

References

External links

Wests Bulldog Rugby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mooney, Phil Rugby union players from Brisbane Australian rugby union coaches Australian rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Living people 1965 births People educated at Brisbane Grammar School