The Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union Football Club is a team in the Intrust Super Shute Shield, the premier club

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 it ...

football competition in

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. The club is based in Rose Bay in the eastern suburbs of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

, and was founded in 1900. Easts have won a total of 77

NSWRU The New South Wales Rugby Union, or NSWRU, is the governing body for the sport of rugby union within most of the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. Within Australia it is considered ...

premiership titles or shields across all grades, as well as 9 club championships.

Club information

* Club Colors: Navy Blue, White and Red * Home stadium: Woollahra Oval (1949-), Waverley Oval (1936–1948), Rushcutters Bay Oval (1900–1935), Centennial Park Oval* (2018) *Centennial Park Oval was used as the club's home ground, Woollahra Oval had complications with the installation of a synthetic turf, which was then relaid. Coaches: * Head Coach: Simon Kneebone * Colts Head Coach: Dan England

Club history

Eastern Suburbs District Rugby Union Football Club was formed at a meeting at the Paddington Town Hall on Thursday, 22 March 1900. In an assembly presided over by the mayor and aldermen of Woollahra Council, 200 Eastern Suburbs residents turned out to hear Colonel J.C. Nield put forward a case for the birth of a local rugby club. The sports journalist Jack Davis motioned for the formation of the club and, from that point forth, Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union Football club came into being. Easts Rugby is the oldest district rugby union club in Australia. Since then, Easts Rugby has seen a lot of great players. The first ever try-scorer for Eastern Suburbs in a first grade premiership match was H.D. Thompson, who scored a try on 19 May 1900 playing Glebe at the Sydney Cricket Ground. That same day, Leo Finn made the conversion and became Easts first goal scorer. That year, Easts Rugby was honoured to have test forward A.J. (Tiger) Kelly become its first NSW representative, when he helped lead NSW to victory over QLD 11–9 in Sydney on 21 July 1900. However, it was not until 1903, when J.W. Maund was named in the Australian side, that Easts saw its first Wallaby. As the years moved on, Easts Rugby saw success on many occasions. The club was helped along by a raft of talent that included H.H. (Dally) Messenger, G.C. (Wakka) Walker, sports star Harald Baker, and Victorian Cross winner Bede Kenny. Easts also had a notable backline when Stanley R. Rowley – Australia's first Olympic sprint medalist – joined the team in the early 1900s. Other noted players included Dr Alex Ross, Englishman Ed Slater, Robert Westfield, Colin J. Sefton, Wallaby Murray Tate, reputed goal-kicker John Cox, World Cup winners Tony Daly and Jason Little, the world's best number 8 in his era Tim Gavin and H.R. (Perc) Newton who played a record 264 grade games for Easts. In all, Easts Rugby has won a total of 79 premiership titles or shields across Grade and Colts from 1900 to 2013. Along with this, they have won 9 club championships and continue to be a breeding ground for superstars of the future. A women's team was first established in 1994. Team captains were Sarah Roxburgh and Amy Copeland.

Honours

''FIRST DIVISION'' * 1st Grade Premiers (Shute Shield since 1923): 1903, 1913, 1921, 1931, 1941, 1944, 1946, 1947, 1969 * ES Marks Minor Premierships: 1953, 1969, 1970, 2000 ''SECOND DIVISION'' * 1st Grade Premiers (Colin Lawson Memorial Trophy): 1981, 1984 Recent titles in other grades: * 2018, 2009 Colin Caird Shield * 2010 Henderson Cup * 2019 Shell Trophy * 2019, 2018, 2013 Bill Simpson Shield

Players of note

* Adam Fullgrabe * Tom Bowman * Mark Bakewell *

Ryan Cross Ryan Cross (born 6 October 1979) is a former Rugby Union footballer for Racing Metro 92 after signing from USA Perpignan in the French Top 14. He previously played for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition, the Wes ...

Tony Daly Tony Daly (born 7 March 1966 in West Pymble, Australia) is a former Australian rugby union footballer who represented Australia in 41 Test matches. He played for Eastern Suburbs, Gordon, Randwick, Manly, Brothers and Saracens at prop. He ...

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* Ted Fahey *

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* Jason Little *

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Archer Holz Archer Holz (born in Australia) is an Australian rugby union player who plays for the in Super Rugby. His playing position is prop. He was named in the Brumbies squad for the 2021 Super Rugby AU season. He made his debut in Round 4 of the 2021 ...

Keith McLellan Keith McLellan (born 14 July 1929) is a former Australian athlete, and rugby union, and rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s. He played club level rugby union for Eastern Suburbs RUFC, 1948-1951 and was named in the club team of the ...

Dally Messenger Herbert Henry Messenger, nicknamed "Dally" and sometimes "The Master" (12 April 1883 – 24 November 1959) was one of Australasia's first professional rugby footballers, recognised as one of the greatest-ever players in either code. He played f ...

Ed Slater Edward Nicholas Slater (born 1 August 1988) is a former English rugby union player who played at lock. Following a diagnosis of motor neurone disease in July 2022, Slater retired from professional rugby. Club career Junior career Born in Leic ...

Tiaan Strauss Christiaan Petrus 'Tiaan' Strauss, (born 28 June 1965) is a former rugby union and rugby league footballer who represented both South Africa and Australia at international level in rugby union and also played top-level domestic rugby league in ...

Fred Thompson Freddie Dalton Thompson (August 19, 1942 – November 1, 2015) was an American politician, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, actor, and radio personality. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Tennessee fr ...

John Welborn John Welborn (born 8 September 1970)
Scrum.com is a former

* Brendan McKibbin *

Matt Toomua Matthew Papali'i To’omua (born 2 January 1990) is an Australian rugby union professional player who has played over 35 times for since 2013. He plays for the Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby and his usual position is at fly-half or inside ce ...

Jack Maddocks Jack Maddocks (born 5 February 1997) is an Australian professional rugby union player for the Section Paloise in Top 14. His preferred position is fullback, but he can also play on the wing. Career Maddocks made his debut for the Rebels aga ...

Kotaro Matsushima Kotaro Matsushima (Japanese: 松島幸太朗; born ) is a Japanese international rugby union player, currently playing for Top 14 side ASM Clermont Auvergne and for the Japan national team. Born to a Japanese mother and a Zimbabwean Shona f ...

(2015)

Nearby Clubs

Woollahra Colleagues RFC The Woollahra Colleagues Rugby Union Football Club, known as Colleagues, is a rugby union club based in Woollahra, in Sydney, Australia. The club was founded in the 1930s and currently plays in the First Division of the NSWSRU competition. Histo ...

* Waverley Rugby Club

External links

Easts Rugby Club, Sydney
{{Shute shield Rugby union teams in Sydney Rugby clubs established in 1900 1900 establishments in Australia Rose Bay, New South Wales