John Philip Horrocks-Taylor (27 October 1934 – 11 February 2021) was a

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 ...

fly half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

who played for

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 ...

between 1958 and 1963; he represented England 9 times between 1958 and 1964 and was selected for the

1959 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand In 1959, the British Lions rugby union team toured Australia and New Zealand. The Lions won the two test matches against but lost the international series against the All Blacks by three matches to one. They also played two matches in Canada, ...

where he played in the third test. He was a Cambridge University blue in Rugby for 1956 and 1957.

Career

Horrocks-Taylor came up to

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

in 1955 after playing in his native Yorkshire for Halifax and completing his

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

at Catterick. Horrocks-Taylor joined Leicester in 1958, making his debut on 27 September against Harlequins at

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 ...

, Horrocks-Taylor was described as a "brilliant half-back, who is the most talked young player about in rugger circles". Horrocks-Taylor left Leicester in September 1963 after receiving a job offer in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

that was "too good to turn down", and joined the local club, in the 1964 Five Nations Championship he played his final two matches for and became the first current

Middlesbrough RUFC Middlesbrough Rugby Union Football Club is an English rugby union team. One of two clubs of the area of Middlesbrough, the club runs five senior sides and ten junior teams. The initial club was formed in 1872, but it was not until 1892 when the ...

player to represent England. He also played for

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

and Halifax.

References

1934 births 2021 deaths English rugby union players England international rugby union players Leicester Tigers players Rugby union fly-halves Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England Yorkshire County RFU players Place of death missing Rugby union players from Halifax, West Yorkshire Middlesbrough RFC players {{England-rugbyunion-bio-stub