Michael Horak

Michael Horak

Full name	Michael John Horak
Date of birth	(1977-06-03) 3 June 1977
Place of birth	Johannesburg, South Africa
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight	92 kg (14 st 7 lb)
School	Grey College
Rugby league career
Position	Fullback
Professional clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1997	Perth Reds
National teams
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
	South Africa
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Fullback, Wing
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1997–99 1999 1999–2007 2007–09 2009–10	Leicester Tigers Bristol London Irish Treviso Saracens	25 3 107 19 1	(50) (22) (110) (30) (0)
correct as of 8 November 2009.
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2002 2002	England Saxons England	1	(0)
correct as of 22 June 2002.
Coaching career
Years	Club / team
2010–14 2013–14 2014 2015–	Free State Cheetahs (defensive coach) UFS Shimlas Eastern Province Kings (defensive coach) Sharks (defensive coach)
correct as of 23 November 2014.

Michael John Horak (born 3 June 1977 in Johannesburg) is a former rugby union footballer and former rugby league player who last played at fullback or wing for Saracens.

Career

Playing career

After playing for the Free State Schools Cravenweek side in 1995 and the Free State U21s in 1996 he moved to Australia to play Rugby League, where he represented the Perth Reds. He has also played for the South Africa national rugby league team, including at the 1997 Super League World Nines.

Horak was signed by Bob Dwyer for the Leicester Tigers in 1997 and became Leicester's first-choice full back, replacing the retiring John Liley and ahead of Fijian international Waisale Serevi. He also played for the England U21 side. However, he dropped to third choice after Tiger's signing of Tim Stimpson and Geordan Murphy.

Horak subsequently followed Dwyer to Bristol before signing for London Irish in 1999. He left Irish in 2000 but re-signed in 2001.

He started in the 2002 Powergen Cup Final at Twickenham, as London Irish defeated the Northampton Saints.

His solitary England cap came during the Senior tour of Argentina, on 22 June 2002 at the Estadio José Amalfitani. He qualifies for England via his English mother.

After spending two seasons with Benetton Rugby Treviso, Horak signed with Saracens for the 2009–10 season but announced his retirement with immediate effect in January 2010. He is a tall player with a big left boot.

Coaching career

In 2010, Free State Cheetahs head coach Naka Drotské appointed Horak as the defence coach and head of the Cheetahs academy prior to the 2010 Currie Cup Premier Division competition. He became the general manager of the team in 2011 and also helped out as defensive coach at the Griffons in 2011.

At the end of 2012, he relinquished his role as general manager at the Free State Cheetahs to take over as director of rugby as well as head coach at Varsity Cup side UFS Shimlas prior to the 2013 Varsity Cup competition, but still continued as Cheetahs defensive coach.

At the start of 2014, it was announced that he signed a five-year contract to join the Eastern Province Kings as defensive coach, following the completion of Shimlas' 2014 Varsity Cup campaign. However, he soent just one season in Port Elizabeth before joining the Sharks for the 2015 season.

External links

• Saracens profile
• Scrum.com player statistics
• London Irish profile