Edgar Thomas (Eddie) Stapleton, (21 November 1930 – 13 November 2005) was an outstanding

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 ...

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 ...

winger who made his mark 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 ...

and the St George Rugby Club 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 ...

in the 1950s. He was a curiosity in that he played a match for the

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 ...

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 ...

in 1960. Stapleton was a strong bulky winger and he played 16 test matches for Australia between 1951 and 1958, touring New Zealand with the Wallabies in 1952, 1955 and 1958. He played many games for the

NSW ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Waratahs and was outstanding in Sydney club rugby, playing a record 236 games for St George and scoring 144 tries. He was captain when St George won the premiership in 1957, and he retired from the Wallabies the following season. In 1960, the All Blacks stopped in Australia for warmup matches on their way to a tour of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Depleted by injuries, the All Blacks were short of players for the match against

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and Stapleton was invited to don the black jersey. He did so to become the 613th player to be selected as an All Black. He had lost none of his dash and repaid the selector's confidence in him by scoring the first

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

for the All Blacks who easily won the match. Another Australian,

Maurice Graham Maurice Gordon Graham (20 December 1931 – 10 December 2015) was an Australian rugby union player who played one match for the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, as a guest player against Queensland on the 1960 tour of Australia and ...

, of NSW, also played in that match, at fullback

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stapleton, Eddie Australian rugby union players Rugby union wings New Zealand international rugby union players 1930 births 2005 deaths Australia international rugby union players Rugby union players from Sydney