- Ken Catchpole
Ken Catchpole (born in Paddington in 1939) is a former
Australia nrugby union footballer. He played 27 matches for Australia, 13 of them as captain. Catchpole rose through the ranks at the Randwick club as a young man, before making his debut forNew South Wales at only 19 years of age. He is considered one of the games greatest scrumhalves. [http://www.dinkumaussies.com/SPORTING%20Oz%20Rugby%20Union%2FKen%20Catchpole.htm] [http://www.menziesera.com/sports/other_sports.htm]In 1961 Catchpole made his test debut as captain, leading the Wallabies to victory over Fiji in a three game series. That same year, as captain of Australia, he went on tour to South Africa. He repeated this again, two years later in 1963,when he again toured to South Africa.
Playing at scrumhalf, partnered with
Phil Hawthorne at flyhalf, the pair became one of rugby's most famous duos. Catchpole again toured to South Africa in 1965, where the Wallabies won two tests in a three games series over the Springboks. He also toured theUnited Kingdom in 1966 and 1967, winning games against England and the Welsh. After the win against England the President of the English Rugby Union described him as "the greatest halfback the world has known".He suffered a career ending injury in a test against New Zealand in 1968, when Colin "Pinetree" Meads grabbed and wrenched Catchpole's leg while he was pinned under other players in a ruck, tearing his hamstring off the bone, and severely rupturing his groin muscles [Sporting-Heroes.net: [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/rugby-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=4259.html Colin Meads profile] ] .
References
External links
* [http://www.rugby.com.au/qantas_wallabies/wallaby_hall_of_fame/ken_catchpole,37814.html Ken Catchpole]
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