Matt Saunders (born 13 September 1982) is a former New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who played provincial rugby for Southland and initially

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

in 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 (NP ...

. He also represented the Highlanders in the

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

competition.

Playing career

Provincial Rugby

Saunders' first-class rugby career started with a bang as he debuted for

North Otago North Otago is an area in New Zealand that covers the area of the Otago region between Shag Point and the Waitaki River, and extends inland to the west as far as the village of Omarama (which has experienced rapid growth as a developing centre f ...

aged only 17 in a

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challenge ...

contest against

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

in 2000. After three seasons with North Otago, he transferred to the

Otago Rugby Union The Otago Rugby Football Union is the official governing body of rugby union for the Otago region of New Zealand. The union is based in the city of Dunedin, and its home ground is Forsyth Barr Stadium. The top representative team competes in ...

in 2002. He made his provincial debut for Otago in 2003 and quickly established himself as a player of substantial promise. After injury ruled him out of the 2004 provincial season, he returned in fine form in 2005 in a year that was highlighted by his selection for a match against the touring

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

. However, another injury forced him to miss most of the

2006 Air New Zealand Cup The 2006 Air New Zealand Cup was the first season of a new structure for the National Provincial Championship (known as the Air New Zealand Cup for sponsorship reasons), contested by teams from New Zealand. The season ran from July to October 20 ...

, and a disappointing 2007 season saw him released from both Otago and the Highlanders. With his career at a crossroads, Saunders signed with Southland for the

2008 Air New Zealand Cup The 2008 National Provincial Championship was the third season of the National Provincial Championship (known as the Air New Zealand Cup for sponsorship reasons), a provincial rugby union competition involving 14 teams from New Zealand, since it ...

and began to work on rebuilding his career. With Southland, he proved to be a reliable performer on the wing, and helped the province to a historic

triumph in 2009. His strong performances in the

2010 ITM Cup The 2010 ITM Cup season was the fifth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on July 29, when Taranaki hosted Northland. It involved the top fourteen rugby union ...

saw him brought back into the Highlanders squad for the

2011 Super Rugby season The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16t ...

Super Rugby

Saunders' performances for Otago saw him selected to the Highlanders squad for the

2004 Super 12 season The 2004 Super 12 season was the ninth season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 2004, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular seaso ...

, and given the chance to start 3 games late in the season responded with a series of outstanding performances. He carried that momentum into the

2005 Super 12 season The 2005 Super 12 season was the tenth season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 2005, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular seaso ...

, where he started 9 of the team's 11 games and was one of their most reliable backfield performers. However, his career would lose substantial momentum with a shoulder injury suffered during the 2006 preseason that forced him to miss the entire Super 14 campaign and most of the following provincial season. On his return for the

2007 Super 14 season The 2007 Super 14 season started in February 2007 with preseason matches held from mid-January. It finished on 19 May with the final at Kings Park Stadium in Durban, in the first final between two South African teams in the history of Super Rug ...

, he appeared in every match for the Highlanders but struggled for form and was not as effective as before his injury. Left off the Highlanders squad for the

2008 Super 14 season The 2008 Super 14 season started in February 2008 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 31 May, when the Crusaders won their seventh Super Rugby title with a 20–12 victory over the Waratahs in front of the Crusaders' ...

, Saunders was eventually called back into the squad as injury cover and made a further 5 appearances. However, these would be his last Super Rugby appearances for a further three years. After three seasons of consistent (and consistently healthy) play for Southland, Saunders was again included in the Highlanders squad for the

, although his season was interrupted by the death of his father while the team was in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. He made his season debut against the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

on 29 April. After receiving limited game action for most of the season, he finished the year on a high note with two tries against the Blues on 17 June.

References

External links

Highlanders Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Matt 1982 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players Otago rugby union players North Otago rugby union players Southland rugby union players Rugby union players from Oamaru People educated at St Peter's College, Gore People educated at St Kevin's College, Oamaru Rugby union centres Rugby union wings 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen