Greg Cornelsen (born 29 August 1952 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 former

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 ...

footballer, who was capped 25 times for the national team, 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 ...

from 1974 to 1982. His usual position was as flanker.

Career

Greg played Australian schoolboys rugby in 1969. The team toured South Africa at the invitation of Danie Craven. Greg was one of two boys selected in this team from The Armidale School, the other was Brian Hayward. Cornelsen made his international debut for Australia at just 21 years of age, when the Wallabies took on 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 ...

in 1974 in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, which resulted in a 16-all draw. He was subsequently capped in the following match in Sydney, in which the All Blacks won 16 to 6. He next played for Australia against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in Brisbane, which the Wallabies won 50 to 25. Over the following two seasons, he played in matches against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. All were in Europe and the Wallabies had a tougher time winning. In 1978, Cornelsen played two matches against the Welsh in Australia, both of which the Wallabies won. After the Welsh wins, the Wallabies faced the All Blacks in a three test series. After Australia lost the opening two matches in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, the Australians faced a 3-0 whitewash if they lost the final game at

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. In one of Cornelsen's greatest moments, he scored four tries in the third test, seeing Australia through to a 30-16 victory, as well as ending a long string of losses against the Kiwis. He was also the first forward from any country to score four tries in a major Test (i.e., involving two traditional top-tier nations) since 1881, and to this day remains the only Wallabies forward with four tries in a Test. The following year he played another five tests for Australia, the first of which were two losses against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

at home, though the Wallabies then went on to defeat the All Blacks again, at home in Sydney. Cornelsen also played in the two tests against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. The series was tied 1 game each. In 1980 the Wallabies hosted the All Blacks for a three tests series. Australia entered the third game with the series at 1 each, winning the final game 26-10 in Sydney. Cornelsen was then capped on the 1981-82 Wallaby tour to Europe against Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England and his long test career came to a close in defeat 11-15 at the home of English rugby,

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

Honours

Cornelsen was inducted into the Rugby Australia Hall of Fame in 2017, alongside his former Wallaby coach

David Brockhoff John David "Brock" Brockhoff (8 July 1928 – 17 June 2011) was an Australian rugby union identity, a state and national representative who played eight Tests as flanker between 1949 and 1951. He was later coach of the national team from 1974 ...

References

External links

Greg Cornelsen
on sporting-heroes.net

- Courier-Mail {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornelsen, Greg 1952 births Australian rugby union players Rugby union flankers Living people Australia international rugby union players Rugby union players from Sydney People educated at The Armidale School