Birth name | Denis Lawson Cowper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 28 December 1908 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Mosman, New South Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 5 December 1981 72) | (aged||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Newington College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Denis Lawson "Dave" Cowper (28 November 1908 – 1981) 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. [1]
Born at Mosman, New South Wales Cowper was educated at Newington College in Sydney (1923–1927). [2] He played club rugby with the Northern Suburbs Rugby Club before relocating to Melbourne at age 21 where he continued at the Melbourne Rugby Union Football Club. He trialled for Australia as a sprinter, placing third in the national trials for the 100m held to select a team for the 1932 Summer Olympics.
He made his representative debut in 1930 for Victoria against Great Britain scoring three tries in a narrow 36–41 loss. He was then selected in the 1931 full Australian side sent to New Zealand and captained by Syd Malcolm with Cyril Towers and Alex Ross in the senior playing group. They won three, drew one and lost six matches including the single Test. Cowper played in nine of the ten matches, three on the wing and the rest at centre. Cowper scored two tries in his Test debut in the Bledisloe Cup match played at Eden Park and was the second top-scorer of the tour with six tries. [3]
In 1932 he again met the All Blacks in three Test appearances when they came to Australia, scoring tries in two of those fixtures. Howell describes him as having "speed to burn, a great outside swerve, sound in defence and a born leader of men". [3]
In 1933, Cowper was in the squad that made Australia's first ever rugby tour of South Africa. He played in 17 of the 23 games including all five Tests and was the tour top scorer with 34 points from four tries, nine conversions and a dropped goal. He captained Australia in three tour matches and in three Tests, being first honoured as captain in the first Test of the tour when Malcolm and Ross were unavailable through injury. Though born in New South Wales, Cowper at that point became the first Victorian to captain the Wallabies. [3]
He made further state representative appearances for New South Wales and Victoria in 1934 and 1935.
He became an Australian selector and was assistant manager and coach of the squad for the 1957-58 Australia rugby union tour of Britain, Ireland and France. The tour was a disappointment with the Wallabies losing all five Tests. Howell writes that Cowper, "ever the gentleman, never criticised the players, even when he had every right to....he personified the true amateur, playing always to the rules with a strict code of ethics". [3] Squad member Nicholas Shehadie was less complimentary in his published recollections, suggesting Cowper had limited imagination as a coach and their training was "devoid of variety which made it very tedious". [4]
His son Bob Cowper played Test cricket for Australia in the 1960s.
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 team 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.
Sir Nicholas Michael Shehadie, was a Lord Mayor of Sydney (1973–1975) and national representative rugby union captain, who made thirty career test appearances for Australia between 1947 and 1958. He was President of the Australia Rugby Union from 1980 to 1987; in that role he pushed for and succeeded in persuading the International Rugby Board to launch the Rugby World Cup. He is an inductee into both the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame and the IRB Hall of Fame.
Trevor Allan was an Australian dual-code rugby international who captained Australia in rugby union before switching to rugby league with English club Leigh.
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.
Alan Stewart Cameron was an Australian rugby union footballer of the 1950s and 60s. A State and national representative lock-forward he made twenty Test appearances and over fifty additional tour match appearances for the Wallabies, captaining the national side in four Tests matches.
James Victor Brown was an Australian rugby union player who played for the Australian national team nine times.
Between late 1957 and March 1958 the Australia national rugby union team – the Wallabies – conducted a world tour encompassing Britain, Ireland, France and Canada on which they played five Tests and thirty-one minor tour matches. The Wallabies won 17, lost 16 and drew three of their games in total. They lost all five Tests of the tour.
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.
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.
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.
Herbert John Solomon was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative versatile back who captained the Wallabies in eight Tests in the 1950s and led the touring squads to New Zealand and South Africa.
The 1981–82 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland was a series of matches played by the Australia national rugby union team. The touring team played twenty-three matches between October 1981 and January 1982, winning sixteen games, drawing one and losing six. The scheduled final game, against the Barbarians, was cancelled due to heavy snow.
Stuart Grant Macdougall is a former Australian Rugby Union player who represented for the Wallabies eight times.
Stan Wickham was a pioneer Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative centre who captained the Australian national side on a number of occasions in the early 1900s. He was tour captain for the inaugural Wallaby overseas tour, that to New Zealand in 1905.
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.
James Kenneth Michael Lenehan was an Australian rugby union footballer. A state and national representative versatile back, he played twenty-four Test matches for Australia, once as captain. His national representative career spanned a ten-year period during which time he made two grand Wallaby tours to the northern hemisphere and Home Nations and numerous appearances against New Zealand and South Africa.
Robert Alfred Lewars Davidson (1926–1992) was an Australian rugby union footballer of the 1940s and 50s. A State and national representative prop-forward he made thirteen Test appearances and forty-nine additional tour match appearances for the Wallabies, captaining the national side in six Tests matches from 1957-58.
Gregory Victor Davis was a New Zealand born, national representative rugby union player for Australia. He played at flanker and made seven international tours with Wallaby squads. He was the Australian national captain in 47 matches from 1969 to 1972 and led the Wallaby side on three overseas tours.
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.