William Joseph Calcraft (born 22 May 1959) is an Australian former

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 ...

international. Calcraft, born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, is a nephew of Wallaby Bill Gunther and attended Scots College, after which he came through the Manly colts to feature in the club's 1983

Shute Shield The Shute Shield is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team from the Sydney premiership grand final held at the end ...

-winning first-grade team. A flanker, Calcraft captained New South Wales on a tour of New Zealand in 1984 and was part of two overseas tours with the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

that year, but remained uncapped. This included the Grand Slam tour of Britain and Ireland, where he played in 10 tour matches and was the captain against

Pontypool Pontypool ( cy, Pont-y-pŵl ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales. It has a population of 28,970. Location It is situated on the Afon Lwyd ri ...

. His Test debut came the following year against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and he was capped a further two times in 1986. He was Australia's captain at the 1986

Hong Kong Sevens The Hong Kong Sevens () is an rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competition, the Hong Kong Sevens is currently the s ...

. Calcraft is an

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

rugby blue and played for the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

during his time in England.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Calcraft, Bill 1959 births Living people Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union flankers People educated at Scots College (Sydney) Oxford University RFC players Barbarian F.C. players Manly RUFC players

See also

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