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Joe Roff
Personal information
Date of birth	20 September 1975 (1975-09-20) (age 34)
Place of birth	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[1]
Weight	101 kg (15 st 13 lb)[1]
School	The Armidale School Marist College Canberra
University	University of Southern Queensland University of Oxford
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Wing / Fullback
Amateur clubs
	Tuggeranong Vikings
Professional clubs		Caps	(points)
2001–2002 2005–2006	Biarritz Olympique Kubota Spears
Super Rugby		Caps	(points)
1996–2004	Brumbies	86	(285)
correct as of 25 May 2004.
National team(s)
1996–2004 1992–1993	Australia Australian Schoolboys	86	(150)
correct as of 25 November 2004.

Joe Roff (born in Melbourne 20 September 1975) is a retired Australian rugby union footballer and a product of the Tuggeranong Vikings Rugby Union Club in Canberra, who played on the wing or at fullback for Brumbies and Australia. He also had a spell at the French club Biarritz and in 2005-6 at Kubota Spears in Japan's Top League where many critics say he produced his finest rugby. Of his 86 caps, 62 were won in consecutive games from 1996 to 2001. His final game saw him captain Oxford against Cambridge in the 2007 Varsity Match.

Early life

For a time, he attended O'Connor Catholic High School in Armidale New South Wales. He was also a student at Marist College Canberra, gaining notoriety as the sports captain of Patrick House. Joe Roff's father, Glenn Roff, is Principal of St John's College, Woodlawn on the Far North Coast of NSW.

Rugby career

He was a leading try scorer for Australia and scored the intercept try in the second British Lions Test in 2001 which allowed Australia to win the game. They went on to win the series. He was known for his blistering pace, deft touches, and work at the breakdown. In March 2007 he gave up his position as the top try scorer in Super Rugby when Blues winger Doug Howlett scored his 58th Try^[2]. He also holds the record for most tries in a Super 12 season, scoring 15 in 1997. Many peers considered him to be the finest player ever to grace the rugby field.

Midway through the super 12 season of 2004 he announced that he would retire at the end of the domestic international season. He farewelled the Brumbies in 2004 as the team took out the Super 12 Final and the coach.

Oxford University

Roff matriculated at the University of Oxford, UK in October 2006, and is currently reading a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Harris Manchester College. He also made a return to amateur rugby by playing for the Oxford University (OURFC), colloquially known as the Dark Blues, representing the Blues in their traditional fixture against Cambridge at Twickenham Stadium on 12 December 2006. Oxford lost this match 15-6. On 6 December 2007, he captained the Blues to their third successive Varsity loss, losing 22-16 to Cambridge, before hanging up his boots for the last time.

Other

In January 2007, he won the "United Kingdom-based Young Australian of the Year for 2007" for his services to Australian Rugby in general.^[3][4]

During his years with the Wallabies, the rhyming slang term "Joe Roffie" gradually worked its way into to the Australian vernacular, being an abbreviation for coffee.

References

External links

• Wallabies Profile
• University of Southern Queensland profile
• University of Oxford [1]
• Oxford University Rugby Football Club