Ryan Matyas
Ryan Matyas is an American rugby union player. He plays as a wing for the San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby and for the United States national rugby union team.
Matyas was born on December 24, 1990, in Tucson, Arizona. He participated in triathlons while in middle school, but he preferred rugby and was a standout in high school. After graduating from high school, he moved to Wales and played with Tondu RFC for a year. He then returned to Arizona and combined rugby with studying at the University of Arizona. He was Men’s Collegiate All-American and helped the Men's Junior All-Americans win the Serevi Rugby Town Sevens championship agains senior level teams. He went on to make his Sevens debut at Gold Coast 7s in 2013 and followed it up with a cap in XVs three years later against Chile at the 2016 Americas Rugby Championship (ARC).
He has also coached since he was a teenager, and served as strength and conditioning coach for the University of Arizona’s rugby program.
“I want to give all of that knowledge that I have gained from living in Wales and in New Zealand and I coached for the New Zealand Rugby Union when I was living down there. I just want to teach as many kids as I can and grow this sport because I believe this is the best sport in the world and rugby can teach young people so much about life.”[1]
He has played for Old Blue of New York, San Diego Breakers, Tucson Rugby, Tucson U19 Barbarians, and Temple Old Devil sevens.
Matyas is married to professional rugby player and Olympian Jordan Matyas.
Beyond rugby, Matyas is a distributor of Oceanstone Architectural Lighting, an authorized dealer of Gemstone Lights.