Vayro Wilson

DSC DSC may refer to: Academia * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dalton State Col ...

(18 January 1912 – 1962) was an Australian World War II naval combatant and a state and national representative

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 captained 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 ...

in three Test matches immediately prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He was selected to captain the ill-fated

1939–40 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland The 1939–40 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland commenced with the departure of the Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** Europea ...

which was cancelled because of the outbreak of World War Two.

Rugby career

Wilson was a Queenslander whose club rugby was played at the

University of Queensland Rugby Club The University of Queensland Rugby Club is an Australian rugby club, based at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Queensland. They currently compete in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition. They were formed in 1911, as rugby was adopte ...

. He came to the attention of selectors when he made the Australian Universities team in 1934 and he was in the 1938 University side which won the 1938 Brisbane grade premiership. From 1935 to 1939 he was an automatic choice in the front-row for the Queensland state team. In his debut year for Queensland he played against the New Zealand Māori but it wouldn't be until 1937 that he would play for his country. He debuted internationally against the Springboks in the 1st test of 1937 at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

. Australia lost 5–9 in a hard-fought tussle. He was the only Queenslander to retain his spot for the 2nd Test with the Wallabies again losing, this time 17–26. Wilson was knocked out in a brutal start to the match but he regained his consciousness and composure and returned to the match. Howell quotes Ian Diehm in ''Red ! Red ! Red !'' asserting that Wilson 's "dignified bearing in this match led the selectors to name him captain of the Australian team the following season against the All Blacks".Howell p118

Captaincy & 1939

Only six Queenslanders had preceded Wilson to the Australian team captaincy when he assumed it against 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 July 1938 in the 1st Test of their tour of Australia. He led Queensland against them the following week and retained his national captaincy for the 2nd and 3rd tests. Australia lost all three games, although the margins were tight in games two and three at 6 and 8 points respectively. When the trials for the 1939 British Isles touring squad were held

Cyril Towers Cyril Towers (30 July 1906 – 9 June 1985) was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative centre who made 57 appearances for the Wallabies, played in 19 Test matches and captained the national side on three occasions ...

made a comeback but the selectors opted for Wilson to retain the captaincy and his front-row position. The team left Australia on the ship Mooltan and Wilson did an excellent job keeping the squad fit on the journey.Howell p119 The team docked at Southampton on the day when England declared war on Nazi Germany. After a couple of weeks spent filling sandbags to start the war effort, a pub crawl around the West Country, and a meeting with the royal family, the squad set sail for Australia having not played a game. Of the unlucky tourists only

Bill McLean William Malcolm McLean (28 February 1918 – 9 December 1996) was an Australian soldier and a state and national representative rugby union player who captained the Wallabies in five Test matches immediately after World War II. Pre-war rug ...

, Keith Windon and Len Smith would return to footballing success after the war. The Whiticker reference records that "the squad played an exhibition match in Bombay on the journey home so that the players could be afforded international status".Whiticker, ''Captaining the Kangaroos'' p129. However rugby league historian

Sean Fagan Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán ( anglicized as '' Shaun/Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angli ...

casts doubt on this, citing his 1998 interview with squad member Len Smith wherein Smith advised that the game was played between one-half of the touring squad against the other with extra numbers made up by some military personnel on hand in Bombay. This is supported by the Pollard reference which records that the Wallabies played against a "Gymkhana XV made up of military men and others". Wallabies 1939

War service

Wilson came back to Australia with the touring team but left shortly after to return to England. He had finished his MA at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

and had received a Carnegie Fellowship to study in England. He joined the

British Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

during the war and was awarded the

for his action in the English Channel in a

PT boat A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the wa ...

Footnotes

Sources

* Howell, Max (2005) ''Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains'', Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ * Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney * Pollard, Jack (1984) ''Australian Rugby Union: The Game and the Players'' Angus and Robertson Publishing * Fagan, Sean (2000–2006) RL1908.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Vay Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Australian rugby union captains Australian military personnel of World War II Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) 1912 births University of Queensland alumni 1962 deaths Rugby union players from Queensland Rugby union props