Matthew Utai (born 25 May 1981) is a former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who last played as a er for the Auburn Warriors in the Ron Massey Cup. A

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

international representative, he previously played for the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

and the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

, with whom he won the

2004 NRL premiership The 2004 NRL season (also known as the 2004 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra) was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed dur ...

Background

Utai was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand, of Samoan descent.

Playing career

Early career

Utai was a Berala Bears junior and came through the development squads at the

.Matt Utai Tribute
''rleague.com'', 10 October 2009 In 2000, he started the year in Jersey Flegg, but his form warranted promotion to the Reserve Grade side and he played in 16 matches including scoring two tries in the Grand Final victory.

Canterbury- Bankstown Bulldogs

Making his

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

debut in

2002 NRL season The 2002 NRL season was the 95th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fifth to be run by the National Rugby League. The season was affected by the competition-leading Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs' salary cap breach f ...

, he scored 13 tries in 21 appearances and played in only 2 losses all year. However, the club did not play in the semis because of salary cap breaches. He was named the Dally M Rookie of the Year. In 2003, he scored 21 tries in 27 games, including scoring triples in three consecutive games. Near the end of 2004, Utai scored 11 tries in the space of 7 games. He was a member of Canterbury's Premiership-winning team, playing in the 2004 NRL grand final on the wing in their 16–13 victory over the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

, scoring two tries in the match. In a 2006 match, Utai became the first player that season to be sent off, for a swinging arm on the

' Stuart Flanagan. He was suspended for five weeks. He played in the club's 2006 preliminary final defeat against the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

where he scored a try in a 37–20 loss. At halftime, Canterbury had led the match 20–6. In the

2007 NRL season The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League. Sixteen teams contested the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, and with the inclusi ...

, Utai missed nearly the entire year through injury, but returned in 2008 and made 12 appearances as Canterbury endured a horror year on and off the field which included star player

Sonny Bill Williams Sonny William Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the cou ...

walking out on the club midway through the season. Canterbury would finish last in 2008 after winning five games all year. In 2009, Utai spent most of the season playing for the Bankstown City side in the

NSW Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

. He became the only Canterbury-Bankstown player to win five premierships across all grades when Bankstown City won the grand final that year.

Crusaders RL

He originally signed the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

Super League club for 2010 but failed to recover from a knee injury. Instead Utai joined NSW Country Rugby League Club, Young in Group 9. Utai was then released from Young and joined the Auburn Warriors. He would have signed with the

but Welsh Super League club Crusaders demanded a compensation fee of $130,00. Matt_Utai2

Wests Tigers

Utai joined the

in 2011, making his first appearance in the first round of the season. He was a regular on the wing throughout the season, and was re-signed for 2012, and signed a one-year extension in October 2012.

Auburn Warriors

In 2017, Utai signed on with the Auburn Warriors in the Ron Massey cup. On 24 September, he scored the only try for Auburn in their Ron Massey Cup grand final defeat by The

Wentworthville Magpies The Wentworthville Magpies, colloquially known as ''Wenty'', are an Australian rugby league team based in the suburb of Wentworthville in Greater Western Sydney, Sydney's Western Suburbs. Founded in 1963 (or 1937), the club has competed in vari ...

Representative career

Utai was selected to represent the New Zealand National Team on four occasions between 2002 and 2005, all matches against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Utai is of Samoan descent and made himself available for Samoa's

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams. It was held between 26 October and 22 November and was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–20 in the final in one of the greatest ...

campaign. He was named in the

squad, and went on to score two tries in his three appearances on the wing.

Career highlights

*''First Grade debut:'' 2002 - Round 4, Canterbury-Bankstown vs

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

at Aussie Stadium, 5 April *''Premierships:'' 2004 - Canterbury-Bankstown vs

*''Representative selection:'' 2002 - New Zealand vs Australia,

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, New Zealand, scoring one try *''Awards:'' 2002 - Dally M '' Rookie of the Year'' *''Falcon:'' 2011 - Best Falcon Ever

References

External links

Matt Utai at ''NRL.com''Matt Utai at the ''Tigers''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Utai, Matt 1981 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Auburn Warriors players Bay Roskill Vikings players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players category:New Zealand emigrants to Australia New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in Australia New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league wingers Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan emigrants to Australia Samoan rugby league players Wests Tigers NSW Cup players Wests Tigers players