Des Connor
| Born | Desmond Michael Connor 9 August 1935 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Height | 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 78 kg (172 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Marist College Ashgrove | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | School teacher | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Desmond Michael Connor (born 9 August 1935 in Ashgrove, Queensland[citation needed]) is an Australian former rugby union player and coach. He played for both the Australia and New Zealand national teams, and later coached Australia. He is an inductee in the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame.
Playing career
[edit | edit source]Australia
[edit | edit source]After taking up the game at Marist College Ashgrove, Connor honed his skills further with the Brothers club. He made his representative debut for Queensland in 1954 and made further appearances for the state over the next five years.[1]
He was selected in Australia national squad for the Wallabies' 1957–58 Australia rugby union tour of Britain, Ireland and France. Connor made his Australian test debut on 4 January 1958 against Wales and played in all five internationals on the tour. Later that year he captained the Wallabies in Tests against the New Zealand Maori, and then played against the All Blacks on a tour of New Zealand.[2]
At the start of the 1960s he left Australia to continue his teaching career in New Zealand, working at Takapuna Grammar.[2]
New Zealand
[edit | edit source]Following his move to New Zealand he was capped 12 times by the All Blacks, with a record of 10 wins, a draw and a defeat. The defeat came in his final match in 1964, against Australia at Wellington.[3]
Coaching
[edit | edit source]He was to return to Australian rugby as a coach firstly at Brisbane Brothers, then Queensland and Australia. He led the Wallabies in that role in their home series against New Zealand in 1968. A keen tactician and student of the game, Connor studied the rulebook and after consulting with referees, he introduced in the first Test the first short lineout used in the Southern Hemisphere.[1]
Connor also oversaw the 1969 and 1971 tours to South Africa.[4]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b Howell p159
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- Howell, Max (2005) Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains, Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ
External links
[edit | edit source]- Des Connor at the All Blacks (archived)
- 1935 births
- Australian expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand
- Australia international rugby union players
- Australia national rugby union team coaches
- Australia national rugby union team captains
- Australian rugby union coaches
- Australian rugby union players
- Brothers Old Boys players
- Living people
- New Zealand international rugby union players
- New Zealand rugby union players
- Rugby union scrum-halves
- Rugby union players from Brisbane
- People educated at Marist College Ashgrove
- Auckland rugby union players
- Queensland rugby union team players
- 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen