Samuel John Payne (born 11 November 1971) is an Australian former 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 ...

player who played as a scrum-half. He competed in the

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 ...

for the NSW Waratahs, as well as overseas with

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of oc, Briva la Galharda) is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglomeration was 75 ...

in France and Northland in New Zealand. Payne, born in Tamworth, New South Wales, grew up on a Walcha farm and was educated at The Armidale School. Payne was capped in seven Test matches 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 ...

across 1996 and 1997. For his appearances in 1996, Payne was the favoured scrum-half to George Gregan, who sat on the interchange bench. Payne represented Australia at the

2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the third edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens and was held in Mar del Plata, Argentina. New Zealand defeated Australia to win the tournament for the first time. This was the first major rugby event ever held ...

, with the team losing the final to New Zealand.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Sam 1971 births Living people Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players New South Wales Waratahs players CA Brive players Northland rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves Australia international rugby sevens players Male rugby sevens players People from New England (New South Wales) Rugby union players from New South Wales People educated at The Armidale School Australian expatriate rugby union players in France