Frank William Hall O'Brien (19 July 1910 — 23 December 1984) was an Australian

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

international. Born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, O'Brien was gifted in several sports in his youth. While attending

North Sydney Boys High School North Sydney Boys High School (abbreviated as NSBHS) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded, Single-sex school, single-sex, Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective secondary day school for boys, loc ...

, he had three years in the 1st XV rugby and 1st XI cricket teams, before transferring to

Sydney Grammar School Sydney Grammar School (SGS, colloquially known as Grammar) is an independent, non-denominational day school for boys, located in Sydney, Australia. Incorporated in 1854 by an Act of Parliament and opened in 1857, the school claims to offer "c ...

for his final year. O'Brien was a five-time New South Wales state

pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek language, Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) (). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Anci ...

champion and in 1932 won a national title for the 440 yard sprint, beating 1930 British Empire Games bronze medallist George Golding. A winger, O'Brien won a first-grade rugby premiership with Northern Suburbs in 1935 and the following year joined Gordon for the club's debut

Shute Shield The Shute Shield, currently known as the Charter Hall Shute Shield, is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team fro ...

season. After scoring two tries for New South Wales against the touring Springboks in 1937, he earned a

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 som ...

call up for the 2nd Test and scored a try on debut, becoming Gordon's first international representative. He was capped a second time in a Test against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1938.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Frank 1910 births 1984 deaths Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union wings Northern Suburbs Rugby Club players Gordonians RFC players Australian male sprinters Australian Athletics Championships winners People educated at North Sydney Boys High School People educated at Sydney Grammar School New South Wales rugby union team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen

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