Alana Thomas
Australia international rugby union player
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alana Thomas (born 18 March 1982) is an Australian rugby union coach and a former player.
| Born | 18 March 1982 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| School | Glen Innes High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Career
Thomas grew up playing basketball, rugby league and touch. She gave rugby union a go after she was spotted trying out for a netball team at university.[1]
Thomas competed for Australia at the 2006 Rugby World Cup in Canada.[2][3] She made her international debut for the Wallaroos in the second pool game against France.[3][1] She later featured in their narrow 18–14 victory over Ireland for seventh place.[4][5]
Thomas was named in a 22–player squad that played in a two-test series against New Zealand in October 2007.[6][7]
Coaching career
Thomas started coaching in 2014, she started coaching sevens rugby with Rugby Victoria.[8] She was named Rugby Australia's Community Coach of the year in 2017 after she took the Melbourne Unicorns to a premiership.[9] In 2018, She became the inaugural Head Coach of the Melbourne Rebels in the Super W competition.[9][10]
Thomas was an assistant coach for Australia A when they competed at the 2019 Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship in Fiji.[1] She later earned a place on World Rugby's Coaching Internship Programme for the 2021 Rugby World Cup; she joined Fiji's management team as they prepared to make their tournament debut.[11][12]
Thomas was replaced by Jason Rogers as Head Coach of the Melbourne Rebels for the upcoming 2023 Super W season.[13]