 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | Ryan Smith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 30 September 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.99 m (6 ft 6+1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 117 kg (18 st 6 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | St Patrick's College, Shorncliffe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ryan Smith (born 30 September 1996) is an Australian rugby union player who plays for the Queensland Reds in Super Rugby. His playing position is lock.
Smith was born in Toowoomba. He moved to Caboolture, where he spent most of his early childhood before relocating to Brighton for his schooling years.
Smith started playing rugby union in 2000 for his junior club, the Caboolture Snakes. [1] He played his senior club rugby for Brothers. In his final year at St. Patrick’s, Smith was swimming captain and co-captain of the track and field team. [2] He also represented the 2013 1st XV rugby side that finished 5th overall in the AIC competition. [3]
After school, Smith began playing colts rugby and progressed into the Brothers grades program in 2015. He made his Queensland Premier Rugby debut for Brothers in 2017. [4]
Having trained with the Brumbies for a short time, Smith came into the spotlight after impressing with Brisbane City in the 2019 National Rugby Championship. [5]
The lock first featured for the Reds in a 28–19 preseason trial victory over the Waratahs in Dalby on 24 January 2020, [6] before getting a call-up to the Reds' Super Rugby side in May 2020. [7]
Smith made his Super Rugby debut in Round 1 on 19 February 2021, defeating the Waratahs 41–7 at Suncorp Stadium. He entered the match as a 68th minute substitute wearing jersey #19 and became Queensland Reds player #1357. [8] Smith made his Super Rugby starting debut at lock in Round 6 against the Waratahs on 27 March 2021. [9]
On 8 May 2021, the Reds ended their ten-year championship drought and claimed the 2021 Super Rugby AU title. [10] Smith started at lock [11] in the come-from-behind, 19–16 grand final victory over the Brumbies. At Queensland’s end of season awards lunch held at Sirromet winery, Mount Cotton on 18 July 2021, Smith was named Rookie of the Year. [12]
Smith scored his maiden Super Rugby try on 25 February 2022, as Queensland claimed the Bob Templeton Cup in a rain-soaked match against the Waratahs. The try proved to be the Round 2 match-winner, as the Reds held on to win 20–16, at Leichhardt Oval. [13]
On 12 April 2024, Smith won his 50th cap for the Reds in a 17–14 loss to Moana Pasifika at Semenoff Stadium in Whangarei. [14] Smith earned his 50th Super Rugby cap in his next appearance on 19 April with a dominant 31–0 win against the Highlanders. Smith scored his first try of the 2024 season only 27 minutes into the milestone match. [15] [16]
In the opening round of the 2022 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup on 2 July, Smith made his Australia A debut against Samoa. He received his first international yellow card in the 19th minute of the match, which Australia A went on to lose 31–26 at ANZ Stadium in Suva, Fiji. [17] Smith’s first Australia A win came in his next match, a 32–18 victory over Fiji on 9 July at Churchill Park. [18]
Smith represented Australia A in the Asahi Super Dry Japan Rugby Challenge Series 2022: a three match series against the Japan XV. [19] He came off the bench for the series opener on 1 October at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium and started in the third and final match on 14 October at Yodoko Sakura Stadium. [20] Australia A won the series 2–1. [21]
Smith earned his first Wallabies call-up after coach Eddie Jones made seven changes to a 33-man training squad due to injuries. [22] Fellow Reds team-mate Matt Faessler also received his first Wallabies call-up, joining Smith for the three-day camp starting on 17 April 2023 at Sanctuary Cove. [23]
 | This biographical article relating to Australian rugby union is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competitions in Queensland. With the introduction of the professional Super 12 competition they moved to a model where players are contracted to the Reds through the Queensland Rugby Union rather than selected on the basis of club form.
The ACT Brumbies is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the feral horses which inhabit the capital's hinterland. The team represents the ACT, as well as the Far South Coast and Southern Inland regions of New South Wales (NSW).
The New South Wales Waratahs, referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the state, are represented by the Brumbies, who are based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
Daniel Joseph Vickerman was a professional rugby union player. The 204 cm, 119 kg lock played 63 Tests with the Wallabies, the national team of his adopted country of Australia. After seven seasons with the Wallabies, and having played Super Rugby for the New South Wales Waratahs and ACT Brumbies, Vickerman left his successful international rugby career in 2008. He attended the University of Cambridge, where he read a degree in Land Economy at Hughes Hall. While in England, he played rugby for Cambridge University and Northampton Saints. In 2011, he returned to Australia and played again for the Wallabies, including at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, before he retired from the game.
James Alexander Slipper is an Australian professional rugby union player who plays as a prop for Super Rugby club ACT Brumbies and captains the Australia national team.
The Australian Provincial Championship, or APC was a rugby union football competition played in Australia. It was one of several provincial competitions since the late 1960s, including the Wallaby Trophy and Ricoh National Championship, that have not continued.
Michael Kent Hooper is an Australian professional rugby union player who is the former captain of the Australia national team, the Wallabies. His primary position is openside flanker.
Jack Debreczeni is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a fly half for the ACT Brumbies in the Super Rugby Pacific competition.
Taniela Tupou is an Australian professional rugby union player. He plays as a tight head prop for the Melbourne Rebels in the Super Rugby Pacific and has represented Australia in international rugby. Born in Tonga he qualifies for Australia by residency.
Jordan Petaia is an Australian rugby professional player currently playing for the Queensland Reds in the Super Rugby and for Australia in international matches. A utility back, Petaia is most often used in the centres for both club and country.
Super Rugby Women's is an annual professional women's rugby union club competition organised by Rugby Australia. It is contested by five clubs from Australia and one club from Fiji, who play a single series of round-robin matches to determine the four participants of a single-elimination tournament. The competition replaced the representative National Women's Championship with five teams owned by the Australian Super Rugby franchises, and began play in the 2018 season as an amateur league known as the Super W. The 2022 season saw the addition of a team from Fiji, and the introduction of salaries for players. The league adopted its current name in the 2024 season. Fijiana Drua are the current champions, while the New South Wales Waratahs have won the most championships (4).
The Rod Macqueen Cup is a rugby union trophy contested biannually in Super Rugby between the ACT Brumbies and the Queensland Reds. The Rod Macqueen Cup was introduced in 2005 to celebrate Rod Macqueen, the first Brumbies head coach.
The 2021 Super Rugby AU season was a professional club rugby union tournament organised by Rugby Australia. Announced on 11 November 2020, the tournament was the second season of Super Rugby AU, featuring the same 5 teams from the inaugural 2020 season, and ran from 19 February to 8 May 2021. The tournament was won by the Reds, who defeated the Brumbies 19–16 in the final at Suncorp Stadium, winning their first Super Rugby AU title, and first Super Rugby competition since 2011.
Super Rugby Trans-Tasman was a professional men's rugby union club competition in Australia and New Zealand. It featured the five Super Rugby AU teams playing the five Super Rugby Aotearoa teams, followed by a final, and ran from 14 May to 19 June 2021.
The 2024 Queensland Reds season is the 28th and current Queensland Reds season in the Super Rugby since entering the professional era in 1996. In addition to the domestic competition played across the Tasman and the Pacific, the Reds will also host Wales on their tour of Australia following the conclusion of the season.