If you talk about the greatest fullbacks of all time, then Australian Matthew Burke would be right up there.

Burke was a national hero in his homeland after kicking the Wallabies to the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales. He scored a remarkable 24 points against South Africa in the semi-final, and then bettered it with 25 against France in the final to rack up a total of 101 in the competition that year – only one behind the top scorer, Argentina’s Gonzalo Quesada.

A magnificent ten-year international career has seen Burke rack up 81 caps for the Wallabies, and his astonishing scoring at international level is demonstrated by the fact that his tally of 878 points was the fifth highest of all time when he retired from Test rugby in June 2004, as well as the second highest in Australian history.

But Burke is no mere goal-kicking machine, and his enormous international points haul includes an impressive 29 tries, making him the fourth top Wallaby try scorer behind only David Campese, Joe Roff and Tim Horan.

A stalwart with the New South Wales Waratahs since his debut against Transvaal back in 1993, Burke was the first player ever to rack up a century of appearances for the state, which he captained between 2001 and 2003. Such was his impact there that the NSW Waratahs player of the year now wins the ‘Matt Burke Trophy’.

His long international career got underway as early as 1990 when he toured Europe with the Australian national Schools squad, before playing for Australia at Under-21 level in 1992 and 1993 – by which time he was already representing his country in the Sevens World Cup and in the Hong Kong Sevens.

Burke’s full Test debut came in 1993 against South Africa, and having established himself as a fixture at fullback, in 1998 he broke the world record for points scored against New Zealand with his haul of 24 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Having had a shoulder injury during the early part of the 2004 Super 12, Burke came back to fitness and racked up 62 points from his six starts, surpassing New Zealand fly half Andrew Mehrtens to become the top scorer in the history of the competition with almost 1,000 points from his century of matches – a record which Mehrtens only just claimed back in 2005 while Burke was in his maiden season with Newcastle.

During that first season with the Falcons Burke became an instant hit, claiming the players’ player of the year award and the supporters’ club player of the year prize.

He touched down an incredible nine tries from his 19 starts and three bench appearances in all competitions, including a spectacular hat-trick in the Premiership home win over Leeds Tykes.

His cool and assured demeanour at the back, aerial ability and superb leadership make him a vital cog in the Falcons machine, so much so that he won the player of the season award for 2005/6, and was given the captaincy for the 2006/7 campaign. Such is Burke's commitment to the cause that he has even accepted British citizenship in order to allow the club to bring in additional players from overseas, going through a lengthy bureaucratic process before swearing his allegiance to Britain.

 

School/university: St Joseph's College, ACU

Previous clubs: NSW Waratahs, Eastwood

Nicknames: Burkey, any random Aussie cricketer’s names or just ‘G’day Mate!’

Favourite TV show: CSI Miami, CSI New York and CSI Vegas

Favourite film: Lucky Number Sleven

Favourite music: Jack Johnson

Favourite book: Da Vinci Code

Favourite food: Roast chicken

Most like to meet: Owen Wilson

Least like to meet: Charlie off Big Brother

Best moment in rugby: Winning the World Cup

Best moment outside of rugby: Birth of my children

Favourite place to visit: The French Riviera

Team-mate least like to share a room with and why: Tom May, because he’s too clean and is a real ‘neat freak’. He has an OCD when it comes to germs.

I love: Chocolate

I hate: Not having a powerful car