diff --git a/src/org/jruby/RubyGlobal.java b/src/org/jruby/RubyGlobal.java
index feb733afbf2..9684fb4c75a 100644
--- a/src/org/jruby/RubyGlobal.java
+++ b/src/org/jruby/RubyGlobal.java
@@ -397,6 +397,7 @@ public static void createGlobals(ThreadContext context, Ruby runtime) {
         globals.alias("$LAST_MATCH_INFO", "$~");
         globals.alias("$IGNORECASE", "$=");
         globals.alias("$ARGV", "$*");
+        globals.alias("$MATCH", "$&");
         globals.alias("$PREMATCH", "$`");
         globals.alias("$POSTMATCH", "$'");
         globals.alias("$LAST_PAREN_MATCH", "$+");