William Joseph Wallace (2 August 1878 – 2 March 1972) was a New Zealand

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 ...

footballer and foundryman. Wallace won his first Test cap for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

on 15 August 1903 against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He was a member of the legendary 1905 Original All Blacks and played in the famous '' Match of the Century'' against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. In total he played 51 matches for the All Blacks including 11 internationals. Following the death of

Loftus Armstrong Adam Loftus Armstrong (13 April 1878 – 30 January 1959) was a New Zealand rugby union player. A wing-forward, Armstrong represented Wairarapa at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, in 1903. ...

in 1959, Wallace was the oldest living All Black. Wallace died in Wellington in 1972 and was buried at

Karori Cemetery Karori Cemetery is New Zealand's second largest cemetery, located in the Wellington suburb of Karori. History Karori Cemetery opened in 1891 to address overcrowding at Bolton Street Cemetery. In 1909, it received New Zealand's first cremato ...

References

1878 births 1972 deaths Rugby union players from Wellington City New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Wellington rugby union players Otago rugby union players Rugby union fullbacks Burials at Karori Cemetery {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1870s-stub