Matt Banahan

Matt Banahan (born 30 December 1986 in Jersey) is a rugby union player for Bath in the Guinness Premiership. His main position is , and he can also operate as an outside .

Banahan grew up playing field hockey, earning selection to the Jersey and West of England junior representative sides before he decided his hockey career was stalled and switching to rugby union. He was previously with the London Irish Academy and was brought to the Recreation Ground as a .

He is seen as a future England International. He was selected for the "wider" England Sevens squad in the 2007-08 IRB Sevens World Series, which refers to a pool of players who supplement the 11 core squad members. As a member of the wider squad, he is eligible for selection for up to four of the eight events in the tournament.. He was also selected for the England Saxons squad to play in the 2008 Churchill Cup and scored 3 tries on his debut. He then scored two tries against Ireland A and one in the final which they won. The final was against Scotland A which they won to retain their title.

Jersey-born Matt Banahan celebrated his England Saxons debut by scoring a hat trick in England's 64-10 victory over the USA in the opening round of the 2008 Barclays Churchill Cup.

Banahan joined Bath Rugby from the London Irish Academy in the summer of 2006. The giant wing, who only took up rugby a few years ago after deciding that he was not going to get any further in his hockey career (he has represented Jersey and the West of England), has also been involved with the RFU’s Junior National Academy set-up and, more recently, England's sevens set up.

Banahan played for England on Saturday 30 May 2009 against the Barbarians at Twickenham in an uncapped game where he scored a try.