Michael Foley is a former hooker for the Australia national rugby union team

Australia national rugby union team

The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...

 and current head coach of the NSW Waratahs in the Super Rugby tournament.

Playing career

A product of St Patrick's College, Strathfield

St Patrick's College, Strathfield

St Patrick's College is an independent, Roman Catholic, day school for boys, located in Strathfield in the inner west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....

, he represented New South Wales Schoolboys, Australian Schoolboys and NSW U21s. Foley played his club rugby for the Wests and, despite being born in Sydney, went on to win 111 state caps for Queensland Reds

Queensland Reds

The Queensland Reds represent Queensland in the sport of rugby union in the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996 they were a representative team selected on merit from the rugby union club competitions in Queensland...

, 63 in the Super 12 competition.

He made his test debut 31 May 1995 at the age of 27 as a replacement against Canada

Canada national rugby union team

The Canada national rugby union team represents Canada in international rugby union. They are governed by Rugby Canada, and play in red and black. Canada is classified by the International Rugby Board as a tier two rugby nation. There are ten tier one nations, and seven tier two nations, the...

 during the 1995 Rugby World Cup

1995 Rugby World Cup

The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country....

. He was a key member in the 1999 Rugby World Cup

1999 Rugby World Cup

The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, and the first to be held in rugby union's professional era. The principal host nation was Wales, although the majority of matches were played outside the country, shared between England, France, Scotland and Ireland...

 winning side and again in the side that was victorious over the 2001 British Lions

British and Irish Lions

The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...

. His final cap was a victory against Wales

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

 on 25 November 2001.

He retired from top-flight rugby in 2001 after notching up 50 caps

Cap (sport)

In sports, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance on a select team, such as a national team. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football...

 international caps.

Coaching

Immediately after retiring in 2001, he became the forward coach of Bath Rugby

Bath Rugby

Bath Rugby is an English professional rugby union club that is based in the city of Bath. They play in the Aviva Premiership league...

 in the Avira Premiership league. In 2006, he left Bath to become an assistant coach for the Wallabies

Wallabies

A wallaby is the informal name for any of about thirty species of Australian animal.Wallaby may also refer to:* Wallaby ammunition carrier, a variant of the Canadian Ram tank* Wallaby , Japanese fantasy manga...

. He then signed on to become an assistant coach for the NSW Waratahs under Chris Hickey

Chris Hickey

Chris Hickey is a professional rugby union coach and the former coach of the NSW Waratahs in the Super Rugby tournament.-Early coaching career:...

, whom he replaced at the end of the 2011 season. He will become the Waratah's seventh head coach in franchise history.

His assistants will be Alan Gaffney

Alan Gaffney

Alan Gaffney is an Australian-born rugby coach, currently an assistant with the NSW Waratahs in the Super Rugby tournament.He is a former player who played over 200 games with the Randwick Rugby Club Sydney, of which he was elected a life member in 1993....

 and Scott Bowen

Scott Bowen

Scott Bowen is a former Australian rugby union scrum-half who represented for the Wallabies nine times between 1993 and 1996...

.