Kurtley Beale

Kurtley James Beale (born 6 January 1989) is an Australian professional rugby union representative player who has made over 90 national representative appearances in a ten-year playing career at the world-class level.

He is of Aboriginal descent, has had a long Super Rugby career with the New South Wales Waratahs and has played for the Melbourne Rebels and the Wasps club in England.

Beale usually plays at full-back or centre but can play fly-half or winger.

Beale was selected in the NSW and Australian Schoolboys representative rugby teams between 2004 and 2006.

In 2006 Beale captained both the Joey's first XV and the Australian Schoolboys side, and regularly attended training sessions with the NSW Waratahs from the age of 15.

He signed with the Waratahs while still only a 16-year-old.

At 17, he attended his first Wallabies training camp, on the invitation of coach John Connolly.

Beale first played senior rugby at the Northern Suburbs club alongside then-Waratahs teammates Al Baxter and Sam Norton-Knight.

With the launch of the Australian Rugby Championship in 2007, Beale became the starting flyhalf for the Rams.

He played every game of the season in which the Rams went on to become minor premiers.

One of the top try scorers and leaders in try-assists, he was awarded the 2007 player of the tournament award for the ARC.

Beale played his first senior game for New South Wales against the ACT in January 2007 for a trial game in Wollongong.

After coming on from the bench, he scored the first of his many memorable tries by chipping around the winger and outpacing the fullback to score.

The game was won by NSW 12–0.

Two weeks later, after again coming off the bench, Beale made a late break to assist in the winning try against the Crusaders.

Coach Ewen McKenzie had stated that Beale would not be rushed into the starting line up and would instead play second fiddle in his debut year behind Daniel Halangahu.

However, it was no more than two weeks later that he made his starting debut against the Sharks in South Africa, only to lose 22–9.

The following week in only his second start as fly-half, Beale scored one of the most memorable tries of the season by chipping over the first line of defence and stealing the ball out of the fullback's hands to score his first five-pointer in Super 14.

Beale became the Waratahs first choice fly-half for the start of the 2008 Super 14 season.

He also assumed the goal-kicking duties from Peter Hewat, but Beale's goal kicking was not seen as one of the team's strong points.

His defence also became the subject of criticism after the Round 2 loss to the Chiefs as NSW were forced to shift him to blindside wing in defence in order to shore up the midfield.

He had previously played for Randwick against Gordon in 2010.

Beale moved to fullback for the 2010 season.

In 2011 Beale received the John Eales Medal, awarded to Australian rugby's Player of the Year.

Beale was born in Blacktown, New South Wales, and grew up at Mount Druitt in Western Sydney.

In his early years Kurtley played junior rugby league for Western City Tigers, Mt Druitt before converting to rugby union.

He attended St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill ("Joeys"), where he played in that school's first XV in all three of his senior years.

Beale signed a two-year deal to play for the Melbourne Rebels starting in 2012.

His Rebels teammates included fellow test players James O'Connor and Nick Phipps.

He began the 2012 season playing at fullback but was switched to fly-half with the imminent departure of Danny Cipriani to England in May of that year.

With Beale's help, the Rebels put in one of their best performances since the season began in a narrow loss to the Bulls.

The next week the Rebels triumphed over the highly ranked Crusaders, with Beale converting two tries (from 3 attempts) and kicking three penalties.

In June 2013, Beale was named to play for Randwick while on leave from the Melbourne Rebels following a spell in rehabilitation for alcohol related issues.

After two seasons with the Melbourne Rebels, Beale signed a one-year deal with the Waratahs and ARU for 2014.

He played at inside centre in every game for the Waratahs during the 2014 Super Rugby season.

Beale's combination with Israel Folau at fullback, Adam Ashley-Cooper at outside centre and Bernard Foley at fly-half was instrumental to the team's success.

Playing in the final against the Crusaders, he set up the 2 tries to Adam Ashley-Cooper which helped guide the Waratahs to a 33–32 win over the 7-time champions, securing the Super Rugby title.

In February 2022, it was confirmed by Rugby Australia that Beale would return to the New South Wales Waratahs at the conclusion of his stay in Paris with Racing 92 in the 2021–22 Top 14 season.

This would allow Beale to play at a fourth world cup for Australia.

Beale would then return to play for the Waratahs beginning at the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season.