Basil John Kenyon (19 May 1918 – 9 May 1996) was a South African

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player.

Biography

Kenyon was born in

Umtata Mthatha , formerly Umtata, is the main city of the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality in Eastern Cape province of South Africa and the capital of OR Tambo District Municipality. The city has an airport, previously known as the K. D. Matanzi ...

, and grew up in the Transkei. He joined the SA forces during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in North Africa and Italy. On return to South Africa he moved to East London to join . In

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

, Kenyon was selected to make his debut for the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

in the fourth and final

test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

and was also named captain. He was the appointed captain of the Springbok team to tour Britain, Ireland and France in 1951. Kenyon played in five tour matches and in the match against Pontypool, he injured his eye so severely that it ended his tour and he never played rugby again. In his 5 tour matches he scored 13 points, which included 2 tries, 2 conversions and a penalty goal. After his playing days, Kenyon started coaching and in 1958 he was the Springboks' coach in the Test series against France.

Test history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenyon, Basil 1918 births 1996 deaths South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players South African rugby union coaches Border Bulldogs players South Africa national rugby union team captains South African military personnel of World War II Rugby union players from the Eastern Cape Rugby union flankers

Biography

Test history

See also

References