Experienced lock Matt Philip will lead his boyhood club the NSW Waratahs in this year\u2019s Swyftx Super Rugby Pacific.<\/p>\n
31-cap Wallaby Philip, 31, will take over the captaincy from scrum-half Jake Gordon, who led the team 53 times in Super Rugby over a five-season spell.<\/p>\n
And Philip, who returned home to the Waratahs ahead of the British & Irish Lions fixture in July last year, is excited to realise a childhood dream of captaining the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a huge honour and privilege to be named captain of the Waratahs and it\u2019s something I don’t take lightly,\u201d Philip said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably the biggest achievement in my career to date, that’s for sure, and I really want\u00a0to do a good job to make sure that we get the results we want as a team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re extremely connected as a squad. It’s our second year under Dan (McKellar) and the boys know what to expect. We’re one year on of how we want to play, so both on and off\u00a0the field I think we’re going to see those connections come to fruition.<\/p>\n
\u201cJake (Gordon) has done a great job over the last five years and has laid a fantastic foundation for this club. He\u2019s super popular within the group and he will still be leading from the front.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born in Mona Vale, Philip attended Bilgola Plateau Public School in his youth before moving onto St Augustine\u2019s College in Northern Beaches, with alumni including former Waratah Langi Gleeson.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old was selected for Australian Schoolboys in 2012, before earning selection for Australia under-20s in both 2013 and 2014.<\/p>\n
Philip continued his rugby development with Sydney University in the Shute Shield, playing alongside current teammates Jake Gordon and Andrew Kellaway. His consistent performances were recognised with a call-up to the Northern Stars ahead of the inaugural National Rugby Championship in 2014.<\/p>\n
From there he was drafted to the Western Force, making his Super Rugby debut against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein in 2016, quickly becoming a regular in their match day squads.<\/p>\n
In 2017, he was called into the Wallabies squad for the first time, named to make his international debut in the side\u2019s first Test of the Spring Tour against Japan in Yokohama. <\/p>\n
Since his Wallaby debut, he moved from the Force to the Melbourne Rebels, before featuring for Pau in France and Yokohama Canon Eagles in Japan, the city of his Test debut, before signing for the Waratahs following the end of last season\u2019s Super Rugby Pacific.<\/p>\n
Philip last appeared for the Wallabies at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, playing in two matches after a remarkable comeback from an ACL injury the previous year.<\/p>\n
Standing at 199cm and weighing in at 115kg, Philip\u2019s physical prowess is a huge asset in the engine room to any team.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Gordon, 32, leaves his position having played the third highest amount of Super Rugby matches as Waratahs captain, only behind Michael Hooper (65) and Phil Waugh (56).<\/p>\n
Waratahs head coach Dan McKellar was delighted to be able to call upon Philip\u2019s experience for the captain\u2019s armband, while also thanking previous skipper Gordon for his time as leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatty is a boyhood fan of the Waratahs and is very passionate about this club. He is realising a dream in becoming captain and he deserves it,\u201d McKellar said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince arriving, he\u2019s quickly become a senior leader and a really important part of the group. When he speaks, people certainly take notice and listen.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll no doubt become a key figure for us on and off the field and will be ably supported by the senior leaders at the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to thank Jake for his contribution as captain at the Waratahs, which has been nothing but outstanding over the last five seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Philip profile<\/p>\n
Age: 31<\/p>\n
Height: 199cm<\/p>\n
Weight: 118kg<\/p>\n
Place of birth: Mona Vale, NSW<\/p>\n
Education: Bilgola Public School, St Augustine\u2019s College<\/p>\n
Junior rugby club: Newport Breakers<\/p>\n
Shute Shield club: Sydney University \u2013 played with current teammates Jake Gordon and Andrew Kellaway<\/p>\n
Previous professional clubs: Western Force, Melbourne
\nRebels, Pau, Yokohama Canon Eagles<\/p>\n
Wallabies debut: 2017 vs Japan (Yokohoma) \u2013 Wallaby number 915<\/p>\n
Wallaby caps: 28<\/p>\n
Languages spoken: Japanese, French<\/p>\n
Musical instruments played: Saxophone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Experienced lock Matt Philip will lead his boyhood club the NSW Waratahs in this year\u2019s Swyftx Super Rugby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85,33009],"class_list":["post-439451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-waratahs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}