1927–28 New South Wales rugby union tour of the British Isles, France and Canada explained

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.

The Queensland Rugby Union had collapsed in 1919 and would not be reborn until 1929 leaving the New South Wales Rugby Union to administer the game in Australia at the national representative level. Just prior to the start of the Australian 1927 season an invitation from the International Rugby Board arrived in Sydney requesting a New South Wales side tour Great Britain to play Tests against the Home Nations.

In 1986 the Australian Rugby Union decreed the five full-internationals played on the tour as official Test matches.

The squad and its captain

A squad of twenty-nine players was selected comprising twenty-eight New South Welshmen and one Queenslander in the great fly-half Tom Lawton, Snr who had been forced to come to Sydney to continue his career due to the absence of rugby in Brisbane. The side was captained by Arthur Cooper "Johnnie" Wallace who from Sydney University had earnt a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford in 1922 and whilst there had represented Scotland in nine Tests between 1923 and 1926.

The selection of Wallace as captain is referred to by Howell as "a masterstoke". He was well known in Britain through his Oxford and Scotland association, was an experienced and naturally gifted player, a strong tactician and a great influence on the younger players. On the nine-month tour, the Australians won 24, lost 5 and drew 2 of the matches they played and returned having established an international reputation for playing fair and attacking rugby.

Tour itinerary

The squad left Sydney by train on 22 July 1927 bound for Melbourne. They played a game on the afternoon of their arrival in Melbourne against a Victorian invitation XV which was won 19–9. They set off in Ormonde from Melbourne on 26 July for Adelaide where they had a one-day stop.

By 10 August Ormonde had arrived in Colombo where they were the guests of the Colombo Rugby Union and the tourists played that day against an All Ceylon XV in front of a crowd of 5,000 spectators. They set sail from Ceylon on 11 August. Ormonde passed through the Suez Canal and the Straits of Messina and a disembarkation was made at Naples to enable a visit to Pompeii. Another stop was made at Toulon before arriving at Gibraltar on 28 August and Plymouth by month's end.

The squad had two weeks preparation on land at Teignmouth in Devon before the first tour match against Devon and Cornwall on 17 September. The tourists then relocated to Wales where matches were played at Newport, Swansea and Cardiff.

At Oxford the Waratahs suffered their first defeat 0–3 against a varsity side, although they won the next encounter against Cambridge. Matches were also played at Liverpool, Newcastle and Coventry before they sailed to Dublin. The Waratahs won the first Test of the tour 5–3 against Ireland at Lansdowne Road on 12 November.

Two weeks later the tourists met Wales at Cardiff Arms where they triumphed 18–8. From Cardiff they travelled to Scotland where matches were played at Glasgow, Melrose, Aberdeen and the Test loss at Edinburgh. The tourists made day trips to the Lochs, Lomond, Long and Gyll and where shown over the King's castle at Balmoral. Back in Edinburgh castles were visited by day with dinners and theatre parties attended at night.

The party travelled to London for New Year and were shown over the Houses of Parliament by Lord Donoughmore, the Secretary of the House of Lords and James Whitley, the Speaker of the House of Commons. They were presented to the Prince of Wales at St James's Palace and to the King at Sandringham House. At Sandringham they accompanied the King through the woods on a shooting expedition after lunch and were presented to Her Majesty, Queen Mary at afternoon tea.

Later the Australians were flattered by a personal invitation to take tea at the Piccadilly residence of the Duke and Duchess of York where they met the infant Princess Elizabeth. Three other days were spent in the company of officers of the Army, Air Force and Navy culminating in a tour of the Royal Navy facilities at Portsmouth where they were of shown over the workings of the recently launched Australian submarines and, the museum piece and the royal yacht Victoria and Albert.

Two days after the Test loss at Twickenham the squad left for France, spending a night in Paris before journeying to Bordeaux. There against a selected provincial side the Waratahs suffered the most convincing defeat of the tour with the locals taking an early lead and holding on to a 19–10 victory. Then followed a match in Toulouse against a side representing south-western France in which the visitors prevailed.

Back in Paris, the tourists were entertained and shown the city's splendour before meeting the France national side at Stade Colombes in the final Test match of the tour in front of a crowd of 40,000 with 2,000 gendarmes stationed around the enclosure to keep in check the emotions of the enthusiasts. From Paris the squad crossed the channel and departed from Liverpool in Melita for Canada. They travelled by train from coast to coast with stops at Montreal, Toronto, Banff and Sicamous. Arriving in Vancouver in late February 1928 the squad spent twelve days and played three exhibition matches against varsity and club sides.

In March 1928 they boarded Aorangi in Vancouver to commence the final leg home with stops in Honolulu, Suva and Auckland before arriving in Sydney by month's end, a full nine months after first setting out.^[1]

Touring party

• Manager: E.G. Shaw
• Captain: Johnnie Wallace
• Vice-Captain: Charles Fox

Squad

Name	Tests	Club	Career caps	Tour apps	Position	Pts
A.W. Ross	5	Sydney University	20	29	Full back
A.J.A. Bowers	1	Eastern Suburbs, Randwick	7	9	Three-quarter
J.B. Egan	0	Eastern Suburbs	0	7	Three-quarter
E.E. Ford	5	Glebe-Balmain	7	21	Three-quarter
G.C.Gordon	0	Western Suburbs, Newcastle YMCA	1	8	Three-quarter
S.C. King	4	Western Suburbs	14	19	Three-quarter
W.H. Mann	0	Sydney University	0	7	Three-quarter
W.B.J.Sheehan	2	Sydney University	18	12	Three-quarter
C.H.T. Towers	3	Randwick	19	29	Three-quarter
A.C. Wallace (c)	5	Sydney University	8	22	Three-quarter
J.L. Duncan	0	Randwick	1	8	Half-back
S.J. Malcolm	3	Cook's Hill Surf Club, Newcastle YMCA, Manly	18	11	Half-back
F.W. Meagher	2	Randwick	8	12	Half-back
T. Lawton	5	Sydney University, Western Suburbs	14	27[2]	Half-back
J.G. Blackwood	5	Eastern Suburbs	21	23	Forward
G.V. Bland	0	Manly	9	4	Forward
M.R. Blair	1	Western Suburbs	3	7	Forward
J.W.P. Breckenridge	5	Glebe-Balmain	11	26	Forward
A.N. Finlay	5	Sydney University	12	24[3]	Forward
J.A. Ford[4]	4	Glebe-Balmain	11	25	Forward
C.L. Fox (v.c)	1	Northern Suburbs	17	12[5]	Forward
E.N. Greatorex	2	Newcastle YMCA	8	14	Forward
P.B. Judd	4	Western Suburbs	11	24	Forward
G.P. Storey	5	Western Suburbs	8	20	Forward
A.N. Tancred	3	Glebe-Balmain	3	16	Forward
J.L. Tancred	2	Glebe-Balmain	2	16	Forward
K. Tarleton	0	Newcastle YMCA	2	9	Forward
E.J. Thorn	0	Manly	15	13	Forward
H.F. Woods	4	Newcastle YMCA	8	19	Forward

Matches of the tour

The "Exhibition Matches" are not classed as important as the "Tour matches". They are listed on the tour but the starting line-ups are not counted in the players stats.

Test matches

width=30px		width=100px	Date	width=200px	Rival	width=170px	Venue	width=120px	City	width=100px	Country	width=40px	Score
1	17 Sep 1927	Devon and Cornwall	Rectory Field		England	30–3
2	22 Sep 1927				Wales	20–3
3	24 Sep 1927				Wales	24–5
4	28 Sep 1927[6]		Abertillery Park		Wales	13–3
5	6 Oct 1927		St. Helen's		Wales	11–0
6	8 Oct 1927	East Midlands			England	16–12
7	8 Oct 1927	Yorkshire and Cumberland	Lidget Green	Bradford	England	9–3
8	12 Oct 1927		Old Anniesland Ground	Glasgow	Scotland	10–0
9	15 Oct 1927		The Greenyards		Scotland	36–0
10	19 Oct 1927		St Machar Ground		Scotland	21–15
11	22 Oct 1927	London		London	England	0–0
12	27 Oct 1927			Oxford	England	0–3
13	29 Oct 1927				England	20–8
14	2 Nov 1927		Grange Road		England	18–11
15	5 Nov 1927	Combined Services		London	England	13–11
	12 Nov 1927			Dublin	Ireland	5–3
17	16 Nov 1927				Northern Ireland	11–3
18	19 Nov 1927[7]				England	14–9
	26 Nov 1927			Cardiff	Wales	18–8
20	29 Nov 1927				Wales	24–14
21	3 Dec 1927				Wales	15–9
22	8 Dec 1927				Wales	3–6
23	10 Dec 1928		Birkenhead Park		England	29–11
	17 Dec 1927			Edinburgh	Scotland	8–10
25	22 Dec 1927		Barkers Butts Lane		England	8–5
26	31 Dec 1927	Gloucester and Somersetshires		Bristol	England	13–4
	7 Jan 1928			London	England	11–18
28	12 Jan 1928	South of France		Bordeaux	France	10–19
29	15 Jan 1928	Midi			France	11–3
	22 Jan 1928			Paris	France	11–8
30	29 Jan 1928[8]	London team		London	England	0–0

Exhibition matches

Scores and results list New South Wales's points tally first.

Date	Opponent	Location	Result	Score
23 July 1927	Victoria	Motordrome, Melbourne	Won	19–9
10 August 1927	Ceylon	CH & FC Grounds, Colombo	Won	23–3
1 September 1927[9]	Teignmouth	Teignmouth	Won	38–3
7 September 1927[10]	Plymouth Albion	Plymouth	Won	21–11
25 February 1928	Vancouver Representative XV	Vancouver	Won	9–6
29 February 1928	Varsity	Vancouver	Won	55–3
3 March 1928	Vancouver Representative XV	Vancouver	Won	17–0

Test matches

Ireland

Notes:

• Towers described the match as "an evenly contested and arduous struggle ...lacking the brilliance of the other internationals".^[11]
• The match would ultimately be recognised as the first ever Test between Ireland and an Australian side.

----

Wales

----

Scotland

Notes:

• "The playing area at Murrayfield had been covered throughout the week with straw as a protection against the inclemency of the weather and this covering was removed only just prior to the commencement of the match. The day was bitterly cold but notwithstanding this a crowd of 55,000 was present to witness the finest exhibition of the 15-a-side code that has been given for a number of years.
• The tactical keynote both in attack and defence of each of those evenly matched sides was speed. With 20 minutes left to play, both sides had scored two tries each, but the local side had converted twice, while the Waratahs had only been successful in this respect once. The spectators were mad with excitement during the last 10 minutes, as a NSW forward crossed the line twice but was recalled for infringements while the Waratah captain, after having beaten the opposition lost his footing on the partly frozen surface. A draw would have been a better ending to the game instead of the 10–8 victory for Scotland, as it dd not seem fitting that such an even and thrilling contest should be decided by a kick. It will suffice to say that the match will live long in the memory of those who witnessed as well as participated in it". (Towers)^[12]
• The match would ultimately be recognised as the first ever Test between Scotland and an Australian side.

----

England

Notes:

• England played with the wind at their backs in the first half and made all the running. A dash down the wing, a centring kick and the flanker J.S Tucker was over for a try which was converted 5–0 to England. Wallace made several breaks in the centre and then told Cyril Towers to loop outside him when he broke again. The move was executed brilliantly and with the conversion the scored were tied 5–5.(Zavos)^[13]
• "Up till half-time, the game had been fast and brilliant, with the Englishmen having a commanding lead of 10 points (15–5) at the interval. Soon after the change over, the locals increased their lead with another try and it was from then that the game reached such a height as a spectacle that it caused the press to place it in number-one position as the greatest game ever seen in England. Even champions of the past, great supporters of bygone games, conceded that the efforts of the Waratahs to make up a deficit of 13 points during the concluding 20 minutes was productive of the finest football imaginable".(Towers)^[14]
• The Waratahs showed their great fighting spirit by going into an extra-Waratah mode, attacking from everywhere, with John Ford, the massive number 8, taking the ball up time after time. Towers scored 18–8. Then the winger Eric Ford raced through the England defence 18–11. The Waratahs were still attacking the England line desperate to snatch the victory, when the full-time whistle blew. The crowd roared its appreciation of a great game of rugby, with the applause continuing long after the players had retired to the changing rooms and the hot tubs. (Zavos)

----

France

• "The game resulted in a Waratah victory and the standard of play was high, but the antics of the locals rather distracted us. The mere fact of having to conclude the match that day did not prevent some of the players from lying down for a spell when they were tired, or holding up the game to debate a point with the referee (who did not speak French) while a weep following on a hard tackle seemed to be part of their tactics".(Towers)^[15]
• The match would ultimately be recognised as the first ever Test between France and an Australian side.

References

• Collection (1995) Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby, Harper Collins Publishers Sydney
• Howell, Max (2005) Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains, Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ
• Spiro Zavos (2000) The Golden Wallabies, Penguin, Victoria

Notes and References

1. From a compilation of reports by Waratah tourist Cyril Towers published in the Spirit of Rugby reference as Rugby's Great Adventure
2. 3 as Captain against Swansea, Yorkshire and Cumberland and Leicestershire
3. Including 14 matches as Vice-Captain
4. Got sent off in the Cardiff game.
5. 6 as Captain against Neath and Aberavon, East Midlands, Glasgow, South of Scotland, London and Oxford University
6. http://www.rugbyrelics.com/images/aaaaa/lv/00j.jpg Abertillery program
7. http://www.rugbyrelics.com/images/aaaaa/zh-3-1-02b/PR%20-%20Northumberland%20&%20Duram%20v%20NSW%2027.jpg Northumberland program
8. http://www.rugbyrelics.com/images/Australia/London%20v%20New%20South%20Wales%20progrme%201928%20&%20ticket%201927.jpg London program
9. News: 3 September 1927 . Waratahs impress . The West Australian . Perth . 1 May 2016.
10. News: 9 September 1927 . Waratahs win their first game. Trial at Plymouth Albion . Arrow . Sydney . 1 May 2016.
11. The Spirit of Rugby p87
12. The Spirit of Rugby p89
13. The Golden Wallabies p126
14. The Spirit of Rugby p90
15. The Spirit of Rugby p92