John Welborn (born 8 September 1970)
Scrum.com 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 ...

player, who plays at the

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position. He is a former

Wallaby A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized Macropodidae, 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 Taxonomy (biology), taxon ...

. He was the first

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

n-born player to represent Australia in rugby union, and played six matches for the Wallabies. During his career, Welborn has played for

CA Brive Club Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin, also referred to as CA Brive, Brive () or CAB, is a French professional rugby union club based in Brive-la-Gaillarde, in the Corrèze department. They compete in the first-tier Top 14 competition. Briv ...

Ligue Nationale de Rugby The French National Rugby League (french: Ligue Nationale de Rugby), known as the LNR, manages the professional rugby sector in France, by delegation of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the French Rugby Federation. LNR * organises, manages and ...

's TOP 14 division, the in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

in the

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and for the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

Early life

Welborn grew up in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

and attended Scotch College in Perth for a period of his schooling. After gaining a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

and representing the state in 15 senior rugby games moved to Sydney in 1992 to follow his ambition of playing rugby for Australia.

Rugby career

In New South Wales John qualified as a chartered accountant and from 1994 to 2000 earned 63 caps for the Waratahs, remaining their most capped second row forward of all time. Representing the Wallabies between 1996 and 1999, John played six tests for Australia and claims he would have played 60 if John Eales had been a back rower. An accomplished rugby traveller John also had successful playing stints with the Sharks in South Africa and the Leicester Tigers in the UK before moving to France where he played five seasons for famous French club Brive. John completed a remarkable rugby odyssey by returning to Perth in 2006 to be a founding player in the Western Force's inaugural season.

Post-rugby career

Since retirement from professional rugby, Welborn has returned to the financial world as an

investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

and now heads Private Client Activities in Western Australia for Investec Bank. He remains connected with rugby as a member of the

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commentary team and is also a regular rugby columnist for the West Australian Newspaper. John is also the player representative on the board of RugbyWA, an executive committee member of the Rugby Union Players Association, and holds directorships of the Force 15 Foundation and Future Now Learning for Life. In July 2015 John became Managing Director and CEO of successful gold mining company, Resolute Mining Limited, in Perth Western Australia.

Notes

External links

Stats
on It's Rugby
WA Rugby profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Welborn, John 1970 births Living people Australia international rugby union players Australian rugby union players Leicester Tigers players People educated at Scotch College, Perth Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Perth, Western Australia