Birth name | Matthew James Morgan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 23 April 1992 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Basingstoke, Hampshire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 78 kg (12 st 4 lb; 172 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Brynteg Comprehensive School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
University | Pencoed College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Matthew Morgan (born 23 April 1992) is a retired Wales international rugby union player who played for Ospreys and Cardiff Rugby.
Morgan has previously played for Bridgend Athletic RFC, Swansea RFC, Bridgend RFC and the Ospreys. On 5 May 2014, Morgan signed for English club Bristol Rugby, despite competing in the RFU Championship from the 2014–15 season. [1] During his time at Bristol Morgan was a crowd favourite, and was named Greene King IPA Championship Player of the Year for the 2014–15 season; nonetheless, Morgan decided to leave Bristol at the end of the 2015–16 season and return to Wales to sign for Cardiff Rugby, citing a desire to improve his chances into the Wales national team. [2]
Morgan has played for Wales U20 [3] and has had 4 caps with 64 points. [4] He was a part of the Wales U20 side which defeated New Zealand 9-6 during the 2012 Junior World Championships, becoming the first side ever to beat New Zealand at U20 level, and the first victory by any Wales side over New Zealand since the 1950s. [5]
Morgan made his Wales international debut versus South Africa at Kings Park Stadium in Durban on 14 June 2014 as a second-half replacement. He was named in the extended Wales training squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, [6] and was the only squad member not playing in a top European league. Morgan made two appearances for Wales at the World Cup in their matches against Uruguay and Fiji.
The Ospreys, formerly the Neath–Swansea Ospreys is one of the four professional rugby union teams from Wales. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team formed as a result of Neath RFC and Swansea RFC combining to create a new merged entity, as part of the new regional structure of Welsh rugby, that began in 2003. They are also affiliated with a number of local semi-professional and amateur clubs, including Welsh Premier Division sides Aberavon RFC, Bridgend Ravens, and original founding clubs Neath and Swansea. The regional area represented by the team has widely become known for rugby purposes as 'Ospreylia'.
Cardiff Rugby are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back to Cardiff Rugby prior to the start of the 2021–22 season.
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