Matthew Cameron Smith (born 5 October 1996 in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 plays for

Glasgow High Kelvinside Glasgow High Kelvinside , often abbreviated to GHK, is an amateur rugby union club in Glasgow, Scotland. They currently play in Scottish National League Division Two. History Glasgow High Kelvinside was formed in 1982 by the merger of Kelvins ...

. He previously played for

Glasgow Warriors The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...

and

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

at the

Flanker Flanker may refer to: * Flanker (perfume), a newly created perfume sharing attributes of an existing one * Flanker (rugby union), a position in rugby union (not found in rugby league) * ''Su-27 Flanker'' (video game), a 1996 computer game modelin ...

position.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Smith was part of the Stirling County youth set-up. He won man of the match in the National Youth League Cup final when Stirling Country won the tournament in 2013. They had previously won the same tournament in 2011 and 2012. In 2015-16 season, Smith moved to play for

Glasgow Hawks Glasgow Hawks is an amateur rugby union team in Glasgow, Scotland. They were Premiership Division One champions for three consecutive seasons from 2003–04 to 2005–06. History In Paris on 27 August 1995 a meeting of the International Rugby ...

. Smith has been drafted to

in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

for the 2017-18 season. In 2021, Smith played for

Professional career

The flanker secured an Elite Development Programme place with

for the 2014–15 season. This meant he could continue playing for Stirling County whilst training with the Warriors. The following season he was named as a

Scottish Rugby Academy The Scottish Rugby Academy, for sponsorship reasons the Fosroc Scottish Rugby Academy, is a national academy structure designed to give Scotland's young rugby stars a pathway into the professional game. The academy structure is based on 4 region ...

Stage 3 player. Stage 3 players are assigned to a professional team; and once again Smith was assigned to

for 2015-16. In 2016-17 season Smith once again was classed as a Warriors player. He was promoted out the academy on 19 December 2016 by Glasgow Warriors earning a contract for a year and a half. On 7 February 2020 Smith was loaned to

for the remainder of the season. In June 2020, following a period of reflection during the suspension of rugby during the COVID-19 pandemic, Matt took the decision to retire from playing professional rugby. He announced the decision on Twitter.

International career

Smith was capped by Scotland U20s against France in 2015. He was called up to Scotland's squad for the

2019 Six Nations Championship The 2019 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England national rugby union team, England ...

Family

His sister, Hannah, has played representative rugby for Scotland. His great grandfather,

Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football for the Utah Utes, earning first-team All-American ho ...

, played

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

for

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

and

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

External links

Scottish Rugby biography Glasgow Warriors biography

References

1996 births Living people Scottish rugby union players Glasgow Warriors players Glasgow Hawks players Stirling County RFC players Edinburgh Rugby players Glasgow High Kelvinside RFC players Rugby union flankers {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-1990s-stub