Matt Henjak

Matt Henjak

Personal information
Full name	Matt Henjak
Date of birth	25 November 1981 (1981-11-25) (age 29)
Place of birth	Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	88 kg (13 st 12 lb)[1]
School(s) attended	St Edmund's College
Relatives	Ivan Henjak
Club information
Position(s)	Scrum-half
Current club	Toulon
Youth clubs
Years	Club
	Canberra Vikings Cottesloe
Youth representative teams
1999	Australian Schoolboys
Senior clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (points)
2003 ‐ 06 2004 2006 ‐ 08 2008 ‐	Brumbies Harlequins Western Force Toulon	18 (5) 2 (0) 23 (5) 10 (0)
Representative teams
2004 ‐	Australia	4 (0)
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only.

Matt Henjak (born 25 November 1981 in Queanbeyan) is an Australian rugby union player. His position of choice is scrum-half. Henjak, of Croatian ancestry, is the nephew of former rugby league half-back and Brisbane Broncos head coach Ivan Henjak. He is currently with RC Toulonnais in the French Top 14, but was released from the club's domestic squad in November 2009 once Argentine star Felipe Contepomi recovered from a knee injury.^[2] However, he remains available for Toulon's European Challenge Cup matches; on 20 December 2009, he captained the side in their Challenge Cup fixture against Rovigo in the absence of regular captain Joe van Niekerk.^[3]

Early career

Henjak was educated at St Edmund's College in Canberra, the same school as Matt Giteau, George Gregan and Ricky Stuart. He played for the Canberra Vikings club while playing in the Canberra club competition. In 2001 and 2002 Henjak represented Australia in the under 21 side as well as later playing for Australia A.

Super Rugby

He made his Super 12 debut in 2003, playing for the ACT Brumbies in a match against the Chiefs.

Henjak was called up into the 27-man national squad as cover mid-year 2004 after Elton Flatley broke his arm. Henjak made his international debut in 2004, on 26 June against England where he came off the bench onto the wing with 10 minutes remaining in the game after Clyde Rathbone was injured.

He moved to the new Super 14 team, the Western Force, for the 2006 season.

Harlequins

Henjak went over to England for the latter part of 2004, having a short term stint with Harlequins.

Controversies

During his playing career, he has been linked with a series of scandals. In 2004 he was involved in an altercation in South Africa, in which the complaintant was secretly paid $16,000 to drop assault charges.^[4]

2008 and 2009

In 2008 he was involved in an altercation in which his team mate winger Haig Sare had his jaw broken, requiring surgery to insert a plate. Henjak has been dismissed by the Western Force after he was found guilty of involvement in a bar room brawl.^[5][6]

Henjak was linked to a code-switch to rugby league and a move to the Canberra Raiders.,^[7][8][9] however Toulon have given him the chance to resurrect his rugby union career in the Top 14 competition.^[10] Henjak played his last domestic game for Toulon on Thursday 5 November 2009. French teams have a limit on the number of foreign players allowed, and Henjak was released from Toulon's domestic squad to let Felipe Contepomi, the Argentinian back, join the group. However, as noted earlier, he remains available to the club for European fixtures.

References

1. ^ http://www.rctoulon.com/en/rct/joueur/henjak/ Toulon RC profile retrieved 7 May 2011
2. ^ Australian Associated Press (3 November 2009). "Henjak squeezed out by Toulon". Yahoo! Australia. http://au.sports.yahoo.com/rugby/news/article/-/6433282/henjak-squeezed-toulon. Retrieved 4 December 2009. 
3. ^ "Rugby Rovigo v Toulon". European Rugby Cup. 20 December 2009. http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/174_13069.php. Retrieved 1 January 2010. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "Learning from the Henjak experience". Fox Sports. 23 February 2008. http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23262418-23217,00.html. Retrieved 25 February 2008. 
5. ^ "Henjak facing the sack". Western Force rugby club. 20 February 2008. http://www.rugbywa.com.au/news/2008/ewf_news/feb/080222_henjak_terminated,52845.html/section/50753. Retrieved 22 February 2008. 
6. ^ "Door will reopen if Henjak reforms". Fox Sports. 22 February 2008. http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23260477-23217,00.html. Retrieved 25 February 2008. 
7. ^ "NRL leaves door ajar for Henjak". NRL. 22 February 2008. http://www.nrl.com/News/Latest/NewsArticle/tabid/76/NewsId/7905/Default.aspx. Retrieved 22 February 2008. 
8. ^ "Raiders may come to Henjak's rescue". LeagueHQ. 21 February 2008. http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/carney-out-henjak-in/2008/02/20/1203467180831.html. Retrieved 22 February 2008. ^{[dead link]}
9. ^ "NRL likely for sacked Henjak". Fox Sports. 22 February 2008. http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23258073-23217,00.html. Retrieved 25 February 2008. 
10. ^ "Henjak heads for Toulon". Planet Rugby. 6 July 2009. http://www.planetrugby.com/Story/0,18259,3551_3785080,00.html. Retrieved 7 July 2009. 

External links

• Western Force profile
• Matt Henjak signs for Harlequins
• Rugby Heaven
• Toulon RC profile

Persondata
Name	Henjak, Matt
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1981-11-25
Place of birth	Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia
Date of death
Place of death