Edward Joseph "Ted" Thorn (born c. 1896) was an Australian

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, a state and

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representative flanker who made 36 appearances for the Waratahs. He played in fifteen Test matches and was captaining the national side on thirteen occasions (six Test matches) between 1924 and 1926.

Rugby career

Thorn, a flanker, was born in Sydney and claimed a total of fifteen international rugby caps for Australia. His brother Joe, though Ted's junior by three years, represented the Waratahs first in 1921. Ted made his state representative debut in 1922, appearing three times for the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the state, ...

against the visiting

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 ...

for two victories. With no

Queensland Rugby Union The Queensland Rugby Union, or QRU, is the Sports governing body, governing body for the sport of rugby union within the state of Queensland in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. The QRU was founded in Brisbane in ...

competition in place at that time, the

were the top Australian representative

side of the period and a number of Waratah matches of the 1920s played against full international opponents were in 1986 decreed by the

Australian Rugby Union Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...

as Test matches – including fifteen such appearances made by Ted Thorn.Howell pp82-83 Thorn made the 1923 New South Wales tour of

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 ...

playing in every one of the ten tour matches. Although the tour was not a success with only two matches being won, Thorn returned with his reputation intact. In 1924 when the

visited Australia, Thorn played in all three matches and in the final match he debuted as captain for the Waratahs, now in the record books as

captain. In the 1925 season he again captained

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 ...

in two Tests against New Zealand, withdrawing with injury from the third match of the series. On the tour to New Zealand later that year he was selected as tour captain and played in the first seven matches before a wrist injury saw him stand down from the Test, passing the captaincy to

Tom Lawton Thomas Anthony Lawton (born Darwin, 1 November 1962) is a former Australian rugby union player. He played as a hooker. Career Lawton comes from a known rugby union family: his grandfather, Tom Lawton, Snr was an important medic and, during his ...

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Howell, Max (2005) ''Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains'', Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ

Online

Ted Thorn at scrum.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorn, Ted Australian rugby union players Australian rugby union captains Australia international rugby union players Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Sydney Manly RUFC players New South Wales rugby union team players