| 1912 Australia rugby union tour of Canada and the United States | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coach(es) | Otto Bohrsmann | ||||
| Tour captain(s) | Ward Prentice | ||||
| Summary |
| ||||
| Total |
| ||||
| Test match |
| ||||
| Opponent |
| ||||
 United States |
| ||||
The 1912 Australia rugby union tour of Canada and the United States was a collection of friendly rugby union games undertaken by the Australia national rugby union team against various invitational teams from Canada and the U.S, and also against the US national team.
Dr. Otto Martin Bohrsmann (1869–1944) was tour manager. He was a Sydney physician who served as New South Wales Rugby Union treasurer for a number of years. [1] Howell attributes the team's poor performance to a lack of discipline stemming from weakly imposed tour management. [2] Bohrsmann's name would later be given to the landmark Mona Road, Darling Point, Sydney property Otto, which he bought in 1925 and which was retained by his descendants until 2010. His sister Altona would give her name to another Sydney landmark, a Point Piper home which in 2007 set the mark as Australia's most expensive home when it sold for A$50million. [3]
Billy Hill was the secretary of the New South Wales Rugby Union, he toured with the squad as Assistant Manager and refereed some of the matches. At this time team coaches were frowned upon, with the team captain expected to fulfill these duties.[ citation needed ]
Ward Prentice had toured with the 1908 Wallabies and had played both Tests of that tour. He had made three further Test appearances for Australia in 1910. He was a rugged on-field leader and the 1912 tour marked his swan-song in international rugby, appearing in fifteen of the sixteen matches. After World War I he had a brief first-grade rugby league career Sydney in 1920.[ citation needed ]
Tom Richards had also toured with the 1908 Wallabies and had played 1st grade rugby all over the world, making district representative sides in Queensland, New South Wales, South Africa and England. He was a leader in the forwards and a natural selection as tour vice-captain. He would later see active service with the AIF, landing on day one of the Gallipoli Campaign on 25 April 1915 and he would be awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry on the Western Front.[ citation needed ]
The squad travelled by ship from Sydney to the US on the SS Moana with a number of the touring party confined to their cabins with sea-sickness for the first four days. [4] Howell attributes the team's poor performance record to a focus placed on socialising. The squad was billeted out in college fraternity houses in California where the hospitality played havoc with team discipline. Howell quotes squad member Bob Adamson who spoke of the tour: "We were never in bed. That was the trouble. I've never had such a time in my life" [4]
The tour took in 16 games with only 11 won by the Wallabies, including the sole Test of the tour played against the US All three matches played in Canada were lost by the Wallabies as well as one of the two matches against Stanford University and one of the three matches played against UC Berkeley. [5] The team played in the light-blue jersey of New South Wales with a Waratah emblem and the word Australia on the chest.[ citation needed ]
The second match of the 1912 New South Wales v Queensland interstate series acted as a selection trial for the tour and the Blues won the match 12–3 in Sydney. The selectors chose only six Queenslanders in the squad including Tom Richards, Jimmy Flynn, Lou Meibusch, Copper Kent, Peter Cunningham and Bob Willocks. Willocks withdrew from the touring squad before departure and his place was taken by fellow Queenslander William Murphy. Flynn and Meisbusch were still aged 18 years at the start of the tour. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Complete list of matches played by the Wallabies in the Canada and the United States: [11]
Test matches
| # | Date | Rival | City | Venue | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 Oct | Barbarians | San Francisco | St. Ignatius Field | 29–8 |
| 2 | 6 Oct | Santa Clara Broncos | Santa Clara | Golden Gate Stadium | 20–8 |
| 3 | 12 Oct | Stanford Cardinal | Palo Alto | Stanford Park | 6–0 |
| 4 | 16 Oct | Stanford Cardinal | Palo Alto | Stanford Park | 12–13 |
| 5 | 19 Oct | Olympic Club | San Francisco | St. Ignatius Field | 20–0 |
| 6 | 26 Oct | California Golden Bears | Berkeley | California Field | 18–0 |
| 7 | 27 Oct | Saint Mary's Gaels | San Francisco | St. Ignatius Field | 27–0 |
| 8 | 30 Oct | California Golden Bears | Berkeley | California Field | 5–6 |
| 9 | 2 Nov | California Golden Bears | Berkeley | California Field | 23–3 |
| 10 | 5 Nov | Nevada Wolf Pack | Reno | University Ground | 57–6 |
| 11 | 10 Nov | Santa Clara Broncos | Santa Clara | Golden Gate Stadium | 19–8 |
| 12 | 13 Nov | USC Trojans | Los Angeles | Boyard Field | 41–0 |
| 13 | 16 Nov | United States | Berkeley | California Field | 12–8 |
| 14 | 20 Nov | Vancouver | Vancouver | Stanley Park | 3–6 |
| 15 | 23 Nov | British Columbia RU | Vancouver | Stanley Park | 0–15 |
| 16 | 27 Nov | Victoria | Victoria | Oak Bay Ground | 11–13 |
| Pl | W | D | L | Ps | Pc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 303 | 94 |
| United States | 8–12 |  Australia |
| Try: Harrigan Con: Erb Pen: Erb | Report | Try: Carroll, Meibusch, Richards Pen: Prentince |
| California Field, Berkeley Attendance: 10,000 Referee: L.S. Reading (England) |
| Team details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Cyril Towers was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative centre who made 57 appearances for the Wallabies, played in 19 Test matches and captained the national side on three occasions in 1937.
John Edward Thornett, MBE was an Australian rugby union player, who played 37 Tests for Australia between 1955 and 1967 and made an additional 77 representative match appearances. He captained Australia in 16 Test matches and on an additional 47 tour matches on the eight international rugby tours he made with Wallaby squads.
Thomas James "Rusty" Richards, MC was an Australian military officer and national representative rugby union player, who was born at Vegetable Creek, Emmaville in New South Wales. Richards is the only Australian-born player to ever represent both Australia and the British Lions and as such the Tom Richards Trophy is named in his honor. He is an inductee to the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame.
Len Smith (1918–2000) was an Australian representative rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s. He captained the Kangaroos in two Tests in 1948 and was controversially omitted from the 1948-49 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain.
Patrick Aloysius McCue was an Australian representative rugby union player and pioneer rugby league footballer. He was a dual-code rugby international and an Olympic gold medallist.
William George "Twit" Tasker was an Australian World War I soldier who had been a national representative rugby union player making six Test appearances for the Wallabies.
Arthur Cooper "Johnnie" Wallace was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative three-quarter who captained the Waratahs on 25 occasions in the 1920s as well as representing Scotland early in his career.
Syd Malcolm (1902–1987) was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative half-back who captained the Wallabies' on seventeen occasions between 1928 and 1933.
Tom Lawton Snr was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative five-eighth who made 44 appearances for the Wallabies, played in 14 Test matches and captained the national side on ten occasions.
Warden Selby Prentice was an Australian sportsman who captained Australia at rugby union and New South Wales at first-class cricket and also played first-grade rugby league for the Western Suburbs Magpies.
The 1908–09 Australia rugby union tour of the British Isles was a collection of friendly rugby union games undertaken by the Australia national rugby union team against invitational and national teams from England and Wales, as well as several games against sides from North America. This was the first Australian tour of the Northern Hemisphere and the side is sometimes referred to as the "First Wallabies".
Anthony Alexander Shaw is an Australian former rugby union player. A Queensland state and national representative flanker, Shaw captained the national side consistently from 1978 to 1982.
Frank Leonard Row was a pioneer Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative centre who was his country's first Test captain in 1899, leading the national side on three occasions.
Lawrence Joseph Dwyer was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative fullback who captained the Wallabies in 1913.
Edward Joseph Fahey was an Australian rugby union player and World War I artilleryman. He was a state and national representative lock forward who made two international rugby tours and who captained the Wallabies on the 1913 Australia rugby union tour of New Zealand.
Arthur Stanley Billingsgate "Alfred" Walker was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative scrum-half. His representative career lasted from 1912 to 1924 and he captained the national side on fifteen occasions including eleven Test matches between 1922 and 1924. Later he was a NSW state selector and representative team manager.
William Thornton Watson, DSO, MC, DCM was a New Zealander who served as an officer in the Australian Imperial Force in both World Wars. Prior to and after the First World War he had a distinguished rugby union career, representing Australia in eight Test matches and captaining the national side on three occasions. During the New Guinea Campaign in the Second World War he was the Commanding Officer of the Papuan Infantry Battalion. Following the war, he served as Australia's Vice – Consul to New York.
James P. Flynn was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative centre and half-back. His representative career lasted from 1912 to 1914 and he captained the national side on one occasion in 1913, the youngest player to ever do so. He was later a Queensland state selector.
Darby Briton Loudon was a New Zealand born rugby union player, a flanker who made sixteen representative appearances for the New South Wales state team in the 1920s. Four of these matches have since been decreed as Test matches by the Australian Rugby Union and Loudon, who led the side in one such match in 1922, was therefore a captain of the Australian national team.
Geoffrey Arnold Shaw is an Australian former national representative rugby union player who played for and captained the Wallabies. He made state representative appearances for both New South Wales and Queensland over an eleven-year period from 1969.
