Mat Gardner

Mat Gardner (born 24 August 1985) is a professional rugby league footballer.

Mat Gardner

Personal information
Full name	Matthew Gardner
Born	(1985-08-24) 24 August 1985 Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England
Height	6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight	15 st 6 lb (98 kg)
Playing information
Rugby league
Position	Wing, Centre
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2004 Barrow Raiders 4 3 0 0 12 2004 Castleford Tigers 1 1 0 0 4 2006–07 Huddersfield Giants 26 8 0 0 32 2008 Salford City Reds 32 23 0 0 92 2009 Harlequins RL 9 2 0 0 8 2010–11 Widnes Vikings 54 15 0 0 60 2012–14 Leigh Centurions 58 26 0 0 104 2015–17 Swinton Lions 8 2 0 0 8 Total 192 80 0 0 320 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2006 Cumbria 1 1 0 0 4 2020 Brazil 1 0 0 0 0
Rugby union
Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2016 Brazil 7s
Coaching information
Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 2020 Brazil 1 1 0 0 100
Source: As of 19 February 2021

Playing career

Huddersfield Giants

Gardner joined from Castleford Tigers and made his Super League début in a match against Wakefield Trinity on 4 March 2006 for Huddersfield. He enjoyed a solid début season with the Huddersfield in 2006, which included a memorable hat-trick against the Catalans Dragons, and also played several games, which saw him line-up against his brother Ade Gardner.

He played in Huddersfield's first seven games and scored 2 tries, although a long run in the reserves followed before he was recalled for the game against Harlequins RL.

Salford Red Devils

With Huddersfield signing David Hodgson from Salford and Rod Jensen being established on the other wing, Mat Gardner left Huddersfield and signed for Salford for the 2008 season.

Harlequins RL

Gardner moved to Harlequins RL for the 2009 Super League season. He then moved to Widnes, boarding and playing darts but never marking at The Sporties in St. Helens.

Leigh Centurions

He signed for Leigh for the 2012 season scoring 26 tries in 58 appearances up till the beginning of the 2014 season.

International

On 22 Feb 2020, Mat captained and coached Brazil in their 30-14 win over Peru in Sydney.

International career

Gardner was called up to represent Brazil in rugby union sevens at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

In 2020 he played one game for the Brazil national rugby league team.

References

https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12196/12034553/listen-brazil-womens-coach-and-ex-super-league-player-mat-gardner-on-the-golden-point-podcast