Matthew Bowman Appointed as Director of Rugby

The Randwick District Rugby Union Football Club is today pleased to announce the immediate appointment of Matthew Bowman in the new full-time position of Director of Rugby for the 2024 season.

Matthew takes on this newly restructured role within the club, which was strategically created due to the departure of our part-time Club Coach of 4 years Morgan Turinui, and also our Colts Program Manager James Tesoriero.

Matthew will work closely with our First Grade /Top Squad Head Coach Stephen Hoiles to ensure we have the best high-performance environment in place, that flows across all teams in the club, including our Women’s program and then in to our successful Junior Academy and other critical development pathways such as the Rohrig EDP.

He will also have overall stewardship of our Colts Program - a hugely important nursery and priority in our club.

Matthew, has had over a 20-year association with Randwick as both a player and coach. He played 102 games for the Club from 1997 to 2007, which included 63 in First Grade and was a member of the Shute Shield premiership winning team in 2000. He was also an Australian Under 21 representative and was capped for NSW.

In terms of coaching, Matthew is a very experienced senior rugby coach with an intimate knowledge and understanding of our club. He has a proven track record of working within high performance rugby environments and has been coaching at Randwick for over 8 years, in two separate stints, as our Club Scrum and Maul Coach. He was also an integral part of our First Grade Coaching cohort from 2018-2022 with the likes of Owen Finegan, Ben McCormack and Garrick Cowley.

Previously, he was also the Defence & Set Piece Coach with the NSW Waratahs Under 20 team for 4 years. Plus, with a 16-year background as a High School PE Teacher and School Sports Manager, he brings excellent organisational and pastoral care skills to the fore, critical in this position.

Randwick DRUFC President John Tuxworth said “It is great for our club to end up with a high-quality home-grown program manager, whom we have put through a super competitive recruitment process, which attracted many excellent applicants.”

“We are delighted Matthew has agreed to return to the club in this position. After an incredible season in 2023, our goal is to create sustainable success and we are confident that he will leave no stone unturned to help us achieve that.” he added.

Matthew said “I am extremely thrilled and honoured to be given this opportunity at a club I am so passionate about. We have a very talented group of players, coaches and support staff, but we need to work even harder to replicate what was achieved this year into the future. I’m really looking forward to that challenge.”

Up the Wicks!

ENDS