Birth name | Cyril Towers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 30 July 1906 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Mansfield, Victoria | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 9 June 1985 78) | (aged||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of death | Randwick, Sydney | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Roma High School Waverley College Randwick Boys High | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Cyril Towers (30 July 1906 – 9 June 1985) 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 team on three occasions in 1937.
Cyril Towers was born in Mansfield, Victoria. [1] His father was killed at Gallipoli when he was nine-years-old. [1] After his mother remarried, his family moved first to Melbourne, then to Roma, Queensland, before they settled in Sydney. [1] Towers attended Randwick Boys High School where he was taught rugby by Oates Taylor, described by former Australian rugby coach Bob Dwyer as a "forward-thinking coach." [1] Towers was later transferred to Waverley College where he came under the influence of coach Arthur Hennessey and future Wallabies player Wally Meagher, whom he would play with on the 1927–28 New South Wales rugby union tour of the British Isles, France and Canada. [1]
Towers' club career was with Randwick DRUFC in Sydney for whom he made 233 first grade appearances. Along with Wally Meagher his senior at Randwick, Towers pioneered the application of running rugby tactics at the club. "Attack" was the main credo, setting up the wings the main goal and kicking for touch was frowned upon. [2]
His representative debut was as a 19-year-old in 1926 when selected for the New South Wales Waratahs to appear against a touring All Blacks outfit. New South Wales won the match 26–20 and Towers was recalled for the fourth encounter which the hosts lost 21–28. With no Queensland Rugby Union administration or competition in place from 1919 to 1929, the New South Wales Waratahs were the top Australian representative rugby union team of the period and these debut matches were in 1986 decreed by the Australian Rugby Union as official Test matches.
Towers was selected for the 1927–28 New South Wales rugby union tour of the British Isles, France and Canada, turning 21 on the ship going over. He played in 25 matches of the tour exceeded only by Wylie Breckenbridge (29), Tom Lawton (27) and Alex Ross (29). With Jack Ford he was the equal top try scorer and the equal second highest point scorer behind Lawton. He played in three Test matches of the tour.
He wrote a travel diary of the 1927–28 tour which was serialised between June and December 1928 for the magazine Australian Banker. (Towers worked in banking). His Test match reports are quoted extensively in the tour article.
Towers toured New Zealand in 1928 with the Waratahs under Syd Malcolm as captain. Geoff Bland was the only other veteran from the 1927 World Tour squad and five matches in total were won and five lost. Towers played in all matches, including three Tests and was top scorer with 29 points. Howell quotes Chester and McMillan from The Visitors: "Towers was hailed by many critics as the best centre in the world rugby and was certainly one of the great Australian players of all time". [3]
In 1929 the All Blacks toured Australia, Towers was in two of the three Test team captained by Tom Lawton which for the first time in history beat the All Blacks 3–0 in a series whitewash. With the Queensland Rugby Union now back in existence for the first time since 1919 this was the first truly national Wallabies team fielded since 1914.
Great Britain toured Australia in 1930 and Towers played against them in four matches for state and country. Then in 1931 he was a senior in the full Australian team sent to New Zealand with Syd Malcolm as captain. They won three, drew one and lost six matches including the single Test but Towers played in nine matches, was the tour's top try-scorer and was honoured for the first time with the national captaincy in a minor match against Seddon Shield Districts.
In 1933, Towers was left out of the squad that made Australia's first ever rugby tour of South Africa. It was a controversial omission made by team manager Dr Wally Mathews because of Towers' forthrightness and perceived disruptiveness. Still he had further representative appearances ahead of him. In 1934 he played in the two match series against the All Blacks in which the Wallabies wrestled away the Bledisloe Cup for the first time. Then in 1937 perhaps his finest hour, as Australia's Test captain in the 9–5 defeat against the touring Springboks then hailed as the finest team in the world, in which game Towers scored all of Australia's points and inspired the defence to hold out the Boks onslaught. [4]
He retired in 1940 after having again been left out of the 1939 Wallaby team – a blessing since the team travelled to the other side of the world but did not play a match due to the outbreak of World War II. He had played 57 matches for Australia, 19 of them Tests, 2 of those as captain.
In retirement he was one of the first rugby commentators, becoming known as the "voice of rugby" from his broadcasts for the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
His son-in-law Jake Howard played in the front-row for the Wallabies in the 1970s. Jake's son, Cyril's grandson Pat Howard, also played centre for Australia in the 1990s. A plaque in the Sydney Cricket Ground's Walk of Honour commemorates Towers' career. In 2006 he was honoured in the second set of inductees into the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame
Simon Paul Poidevin is a former Australian rugby union player who played as a flanker. Poidevin made his Test debut for Australia against Fiji during the 1980 tour of Fiji. He was a member of the Wallabies side that defeated New Zealand 2–1 in the 1980 Bledisloe Cup series. He toured with the Eighth Wallabies for the 1984 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland that won rugby union's "grand slam", the first Australian side to defeat all four home nations, England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland, on a tour. He debuted as captain of the Wallabies in a two-Test series against Argentina in 1986, substituting for the absent Andrew Slack. He was a member of the Wallabies on the 1986 Australia rugby union tour of New Zealand that beat the All Blacks, one of six international teams and second Australian team to win a Test series in New Zealand. During the 1987 Rugby World Cup, he overtook Peter Johnson as Australia's most capped Test player against Japan, captaining the Wallabies for the third time in his 43rd cap. He captained the Wallabies on a fourth and final occasion on the 1987 Australia rugby union tour of Argentina before injury ended his tour prematurely. In 1988, he briefly retired from international rugby, reversing his decision 42 days later ahead of the 1988 Bledisloe Cup series. Following this series, Poidevin returned to the Australian side for the single 1989 Bledisloe Cup Test. He returned full-time to the Australian national squad for the 1991 season. Poidevin was a member of the Wallabies that won the 1991 Rugby World Cup, after which he retired from international rugby union.
Kenneth William Catchpole was an Australian rugby union footballer. A state and national representative half-back, he played twenty-seven matches for Australia, thirteen as captain. Catchpole rose through the ranks at the Randwick club as a young man, before making his debut for New South Wales at only 19 years of age, then captaining Australia at age 21. He is considered one of Australia's greatest rugby scrumhalves.
Between July 1927 and March 1928 the New South Wales Waratahs, the top Australian representative rugby union side of the time, conducted a world tour encompassing Ceylon, Britain, France and Canada on which they played five Tests and twenty-six minor tour matches.
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.
Between July 1947 and March 1948 the Australia national rugby union team – the Wallabies – conducted a world tour encompassing Ceylon, Britain, Ireland, France and the United States on which they played five Tests and thirty-six minor tour matches. It was the first such tour in twenty years, since that of the 1927–28 Waratahs, as the 1939–40 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland tour had been thwarted by World War II. They were known as the Third Wallabies.
The 1984 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland was a series of eighteen matches played by the Australia national rugby union team in Britain and Ireland between 17 October and 15 December 1984. The Australian team won thirteen matches, drew one and lost four but notably won all four of their international matches.
Colin "Col" Windon, was a rugby union player and soldier who captained Australia – the Wallabies – in two Test matches in 1951. By age 18 Windon was playing at flanker for his club Randwick in Sydney's Shute Shield. After serving with the Second Australian Imperial Force in the Pacific Theatre during the Second World War, Windon resumed his rugby career in 1946. He was first selected for Australia for their tour of New Zealand that year. Despite the Wallabies losing both their Tests on tour, Windon impressed with his play.
Denis Lawson "Dave" Cowper was an Australian national representative rugby union player who captained the Wallabies for six matches including three Tests in 1933. He was the first Victorian player to captain his country in rugby union.
Alexander William Ross was an Australian state and national representative rugby union player who captained the Wallabies in thirteen Test matches in 1933-34.
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.
William Beverley James Sheehan was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative fly-half in the 1920s. Eighteen of his New South Wales state appearances have since been decreed as Test matches by the Australian Rugby Union and Sheehan, who led the side in three such matches in 1923, was therefore a captain of the Australian national team.
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.
Edward Joseph "Ted" Thorn was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative flanker who made 36 appearances for the Waratahs. He played in fifteen Test matches and was captaining the national side on thirteen occasions between 1924 and 1926.
Eric Excell Ford was a rugby union player who represented Australia.
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.
Robert Briton Loudon was a New Zealand born rugby union player, a flanker who made twenty-three representative appearances for the New South Wales state team in the 1920s. Seven 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 1928, was therefore a captain of the Australian national team. After rugby union restarted in Queensland in 1929, and national selections were made from the two states Loudon played in six further full Australian Wallaby Test sides. In addition to his thirteen Test matches he made a further twenty-one tour match appearances for representative Australian sides on three international tours between 1923 and 1933.
Peter George Johnson was an Australian international rugby union player. He enjoyed a long state and international career throughout the 1960s and made 92 national appearances for his country. He captained the Australian side in five Test matches.