Stephen Moore (rugby union)

Stephen Moore (born 20 January 1983) is an Australian rugby union footballer, who currently plays for the Queensland Reds in the Super Rugby and is the current captain of the Australia national rugby union team.

Born in Saudi Arabia to Irish parents, He and his family moved to Tuam, Galway, Ireland in the mid-eighties before they emigrated to Mount Morgan, Queensland, Australia in 1988, when he was five years old. His family later moved to Rockhampton, before finally settling in Brisbane.

Moore came up through the junior ranks in Queensland, playing schools rugby with Rockhampton Pioneers and Brisbane Grammar School prior to joining the University of Queensland Rugby Club from where he represented the Australian Under 19s. He made his Super 12 debut in 2003 for the Queensland Reds against the Bulls. He then went on to play for the under-21 Australian team at the 2003 and 2004 under-21 world championships, as well as with Australia A.

He was included in the 2005 Wallabies squad for the mid-year Tests. He debuted with Rocky Elsom against Samoa. He came off the bench in matches against Samoa, Italy and France. He was then capped three times against South Africa. In November he joined the Wallabies in France when fellow hooker Adam Freier sustained an injury. He played in the loss against France on 5 November. After the whirlwind of 2005 where Moore made his debut for the Wallabies and featured in every Queensland Reds Super 12 game, 2006 was a mixed bag which saw him finish the season on the reserves bench. However, his skills and strength as a ball runner brought an extra dimension to the Reds forwards and earned him selection on the Wallabies end of year tour to Europe. In November 2006, Moore travelled to Europe for the Autumn Internationals series. He was used as a replacement in the Australia v Italy game (25–18) in the Stadio Flaminio, Rome. He then played for the Australia A squad that defeated Ireland A mid-week in Thomond Park, Limerick. He then came on as a replacement in the 54th minute of the Ireland vs Australia game, in which Ireland ran out easy winners 21–6, in appalling conditions at Lansdowne Road stadium, Dublin. He made his first full International appearance for Australia the following weekend against Scotland at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, touching down a pass from Matt Giteau to score his first International try. Australia were easy victors with a scoreline of Australia 44 – Scotland 15.

On 8 September 2007, Moore made his Rugby World Cup debut against Japan, which saw the Wallabies comprehensively win 91–3. They then qualified for the quarter finals by topping pool B with three further wins over Wales, Fiji and Canada.On 6 October, England defeated Australia 12–10 in the first IRB Rugby World Cup quarter-final at Stade Vélodrome, Marseille putting an end to the Wallabies World Cup dreams.

In 2008, Moore was a permanent fixture in the Australian front row, joining fly half Matt Giteau as the only player to appear in all 14 Tests played by the Wallabies during a record breaking year. Moore had an excellent Spring Tour in Europe, starting every game, firmly establishing himself as first choice Wallabies Hooker. The win over France saw Moore cross for his second try in the green and gold of the Wallabies. He also won the coveted Man of the Match during Australia's Cook Cup defeat of England at Twickenham on 15 November.

In early 2009, Moore switched teams from Brisbane to Canberra, advancing beyond 50 Super Rugby caps during his maiden season with the Brumbies, for whom he featured in 12 of the 13 matches. Moore re-signed for the Australian Rugby Union until after the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He scored a try against the Barbarians in the non-cap match that kicked off the domestic Test season and went on to feature in eight of the nine Tests which Australia played.

In 2010, Moore appeared in all 13 matches for the Brumbies until breaking his jaw in the final round of regular season.

Since the 2011 Tri Nations Series, Moore has been named in every squad, usually as first choice hooker. He was a key player in Australia's 2011 winning Tri Nations Series, and 2011 Rugby World Cup campaign, in which Australia finished third. Since Australia's first match against France in the 2012 end-of-year rugby union tests, Moore had played every single match for the Wallabies, including starting every test in 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia. When Robbie Deans resigned following the Lions series and when Ewen McKenzie took over the reigns, Moore started at Hooker for the Wallabies for the remainder of the 2013 Test schedule playing very well.

In McKenzie's second year in charge, McKenzie named Stephen Moore as captain for the 2014 three-test June series against France, with Michael Hooper and Adam Ashley-Cooper as vice captains. However, in his first Test as Wallabies captain, Moore picked-up a season-ending ACL knee injury as he went down awkwardly when making a tackle in the second minute and he left the field in the 5th minutes of the game in the Wallabies' 50–23 win over France at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.

On 6 July 2015, Moore was named as Wallabies' captain for the upcoming World Cup under new coach Michael Cheika. Moore subsequently lead the Wallabies to the final against New Zealand, with the final score 34-17 to New Zealand, the highest overall combined score in a Rugby World Cup final.

As of 22 July 2016