John Michael O'Neill (26 April 1932 — 1995) 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. A utility back from Queensland, O'Neill was born in

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

and made his name in schoolboy rugby with

Nudgee College St Joseph's Nudgee College (commonly referred to as Nudgee College or simply Nudgee) is an independent Catholic primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, located in Boondall, a northern suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Th ...

, going on to play representative rugby in his first season with the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

. He scored two tries for Brisbane against the touring 1951

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 ...

and was also selected for Queensland, with an injury preventing his state debut. O'Neill, capped four times for 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 som ...

, made the 1952 tour of New Zealand, where he played on the wing in both Test matches against the All Blacks. He was unavailable for the 1953 tour of South Africa due to his medical studies but played against the Springboks in the home series three years later, gaining further Test caps in Sydney and Brisbane, this time as a fullback. While his Test appearances were as a fullback and winger, O'Neill was considered best suited to flyhalf.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:ONeill, John 1932 births 1995 deaths Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union players from Queensland University of Queensland Rugby Club players People educated at St Joseph's College, Nudgee Sportspeople from Warwick, Queensland Queensland rugby union team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen

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