Robert Louis Challoner (3 October 1872 – 6 May 1955) 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 ...

player who represented for

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 ...

. Challoner, a number 8, was born in

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

and claimed a total of 1 international rugby caps for Australia. His debut game was against Great Britain, at Brisbane, on 22 July 1899 the second ever

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

played by an Australian national side

Early life

Robert attended

Warwick School Warwick School is a selective, independent day and boarding school in Warwick, England in the public school tradition. Known until about 1900 as King's School, Warwick, it is believed to have been founded by Æthelflæd of Mercia in 914 AD ...

, and in fact was in the same school rugby side as

Sidney Nelson Crowther Sidney Crowther (1875–1914) was an English rugby union international who represented Great Britain on the 1904 tour to Australia and New Zealand. Early life Sidney Crowther was born in the early part of 1875 in Keston, Kent and grew up at Ho ...

, the first Old Warwickian to gain international honours for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. Robert, after leaving school, emigrated to Australia and represented

New South Wales ) , 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 ...

and later

in the second test against a touring Great Britain side in 1899. Due to funding constraints he was one of only six

players ( with

Charlie Ellis Charles L. Seymour Ellis (18 January 1875 – 31 December 1943) was a rugby union player who represented Australia. Ellis, a lock and flanker, was born in Newcastle, New South Wales and claimed a total of four international rugby caps for ...

Hyram Marks Hyram A. Marks (8 June 1872 – 17 August 1957) was a rugby union player who represented Australia. Marks, a lock, was born in Sydney, NSW and attended Sydney Grammar School and Sydney University. He claimed two international rugby caps for Aust ...

Lonnie Spragg Alonzo Stephen "Lonnie" Spragg (2 October 1879 – 12 February 1904) was a rugby union player who represented Australia. Spragg, a centre, was born in Redfern, New South Wales and claimed four international rugby caps for Australia. He did not st ...

, Peter Ward &

Bob McCowan Robert Herman "Bob" McCowan (28 February 1875 – 29 April 1941) was a pioneer Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative fullback who played in his country's first Test series of 1899, captaining the national side on on ...

) selected to make the trip to

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 ...

four weeks after the historic first Test.Howell p19 His performance in that match was noted as ''excellent'' by the press.

References

Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players 1872 births 1955 deaths People educated at Warwick School Rugby union players from Stratford-upon-Avon Rugby union players from Warwickshire Rugby union number eights British emigrants to Australia {{Australia-rugbyunion-bio-stub