John Tabaiwalu Fakavale Matson (born 14 May 1973) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and a former New Zealand and Fiji rugby union representative. He is currently Director of Performance of Premiership Rugby club Harlequins.

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Quick Facts Birth name, Date of birth ...

Tabai Matson

Matson in 2015
Birth name	John Tabaiwalu Fakavale Matson
Date of birth	(1973-05-14) 14 May 1973 (age 50)
Place of birth	Nausori Highlands, Fiji
Height	1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	104 kg (16 st 5 lb; 229 lb)
School	Christ's College
University	Lincoln University
Occupation(s)	Professional Rugby Coach
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 1998–2000 2000–01 2001–06 CA Brive London Irish Yamaha Júbilo () Provincial / State sides Years Team Apps (Points) 1994–97 Canterbury 56 (145) Super Rugby Years Team Apps (Points) 1996–98 Crusaders 25 (30) International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1995–96 1999 New Zealand Fiji 0 2 (0) (0) Coaching career Years Team 2005–06 2006 2007–08 2009–11 2012 2013–2016 2015 2016–2017 2018–2021 2021– Yamaha Júbilo University of Queensland (Assistant) Gold Coast Breakers Canterbury (Assistant) Canterbury Head Coach Crusaders (Assistant) Fiji (Attack) Bath Chiefs (Assistant) Harlequins

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Matson attended Nelson College from 1985 to 1986,^[1] before completing his secondary education at Christ's College in Christchurch.^[2]

A centre, Matson represented Canterbury at a provincial level and the Crusaders in Super Rugby. He was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, in 1995 and 1996, playing 5 matches but no internationals.^[2] He played two matches for Fiji at the 1999 Rugby World Cup.^[3]

Matson formally played and coached Yamaha Júbilo in his final three seasons for the club. He went on to become assistant coach and player at the University of Queensland before becoming head coach of the Gold Coast Breakers in 2007.^[4]

In 2009, he helped to revive the senior rugby programme of the oldest rugby club on the Gold Coast, the Gold Coast Eagles, as the Director of Rugby and head coach of the first grade team. That team went on to win the Gold Coast and District Rugby Union senior club competition (in his absence as he joined Canterbury as an assistant near the end of the season).^[5]

He returned to New Zealand in 2009 as Canterbury assistant coach, before being promoted to head coach in 2012.^[6] He led Canterbury to their fifth consecutive ITM Cup title by winning the 2012 ITM Cup.^[7]

In 2012 he was hired by the Brazil Rugby Federation as a consultant as they began their journey towards the 2016 Rio Olympics. He was focused on staging a training camp for the National Men's 15-a-side team and the Women's 7's team.^[8]

Matson was also the first non-Māori to coach the Māori All Blacks, assisting Head Coach Colin Cooper from 2013 to 2015.^[9]

After coaching the Māori All Blacks in their test victory against the Flying Fijians in June 2015, he joined Fiji's coaching staff from the Pacific Nations Cup in Vancouver – which they went on to win^[10] – through to the 2015 Rugby World Cup.^[11]

Matson was an assistant coach for the 3 years for the Crusaders in the Super Rugby competition. He has held both Attack and Defence roles for them during his time and is a specialist backs coach. His departure was announced in September 2020.^[12]

He joined Premiership Rugby side Harlequins as a senior coach ahead of the 2021–22 season. The previous season the club had won the league title.^[13] That season, he guided them to the semi-final playoff for the league campaign, losing to Saracens away in the semi-final playoff. The following season they finished sixth. After two seasons, he left his coaching role at the club to become performance director overseeing both the men's and women's sides. In March 2023, it was announced he would depart the club at the end of the 2023-24 season.^[14][15]