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The rivalry between the England and Australia national rugby union teams started on 9 January 1909 at Blackheath's Rectory Field in England, during the 1908–09 Australia rugby union tour of Britain, dubbed the 1st Wallabies. The Wallabies won the match 9–3. The two nations next met in 1928, at Twickenham, during the 1927–28 Waratahs tour of the British Isles, France and Canada and England won 18–11. After the 1939–40 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland was cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II, twenty years passed before England and Australia next met, again at Twickenham, with Australia winning the 1948 test 11–0. It would then be another decade until the two nations played another test against one another. In 1958, they met again at Twickenham, and England won 9–6.
Alphonsus "Fonse" John Carroll was a New Zealand dual-code international rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s, who represented New Zealand in both codes. He played at both Prop and Hooker.
Herbert Laxon was an English rugby union halfback who played club rugby for Cambridge University winning sporting Blues in 1903 and 1904. Although never capped internationally for England, in 1908 Laxon was selected to join Arthur Harding's Anglo-Welsh tour of New Zealand and Australia playing in one Test match against New Zealand.
References
- ↑ "England bring in John Barton for Pallant". Liverpool Daily Post . 10 April 1967.
- ↑ "John Barton, 1943 - 2021". www.englandrugby.com. 6 February 2021.
- ↑ "Utility man Barton tours with England". The Birmingham Post . 28 March 1972.
- ↑ "No backward steps from these two rugby greats of the past". The Rugby Paper. 17 January 2021.