Greg Davis (rugby player)

Greg Davis

Player information
Full name	Gregory Victor Davis
birthday	July 27, 1939
place of birth	Matamata , New Zealand
date of death	July 24, 1979
Place of death	Rotorua , New Zealand
society
society	Career ended
position	Winger
Provinces as active
Years	province	Games (points)
	Katikati	126 ()
-	Otahuhu	()
	Tauranga	()
1963-72	Drummoyne DRFC	()
1963-72	New South Wales Waratahs	27 ()
National team
Years	National team	Games (points)
1963-72	Australia	39 (0)

Gregory Victor Davis (born July 27, 1939 in Matamata , New Zealand , † July 24, 1979 in Rotorua , New Zealand) was an Australian rugby international of New Zealand descent. From 1969 to 1972 he was team captain of the national team of the Australian Rugby Union (ARU).

Life

Davis was born on the North Island of New Zealand and attended Sacred Heart College in Auckland . Later he worked, among other things, as a wool classifier.

After ending his rugby career in 1972, Davis returned to New Zealand the following year to pursue his professional real estate career.

In 1979 he died of a brain tumor shortly before his 40th birthday . For the benefit of his family, charity games were held in Sydney and other locations in Australia and New Zealand to raise funds. He left behind his wife Claire, his two sons Simon and Andrew and his daughter Bridget. In October 2014, Davis was posthumously inducted into the Australia Rugby's Hall of Fame.

Career

Davis began his career in amateur rugby in New Zealand, where he played for Katikati in Thames Valley, for Otahuhu in Auckland and for Tauranga at the Bay of Plenty . From 1961 he played for the New Zealand national rugby union team , the "All Blacks", until he moved to the Drummoyne District Rugby Football Club in west Sydney in 1963, to which he belonged until his retirement in 1972.

Davis became a member of the New South Wales Waratahs , now part of the Super Rugby Professional League , in his first year in Sydney . His debut in the Australian national rugby union team, the "Wallabies", he had on June 4, 1963 in a test match against the English national rugby union team in Sydney. The following month he was elected to the squad for the Australian Rugby Union tour against the South African national rugby union team , the "Springbokke". In 1964 he took part in the Australian Rugby Union tour in New Zealand against his old hometown club "All Blacks" and played seven of the eight games, including three test matches; A test match according to the rules of rugby union is an international rugby match that is usually played between the national teams of the countries involved.

In 1965 he played for Australia again in a test match against the South African "Springbokke" and in 1966 in two test matches against the British and Irish Lions . Between 1966 and 1967 Davis participated in twenty of thirty-six games, including all five Test matches, against Great Britain, Ireland and France . In 1967 he traveled to New Zealand with the "Wallabies" and took part in the test match between Australia and New Zealand - on the Australian side - on the occasion of the 75th anniversary. The following year a series of games followed through Ireland and Scotland .

Davis had his first test match as captain of the Australian national rugby team during a home game against Wales in 1969, replacing John Edward Thornett, MBE.

A few weeks later he led the team during the 1969 Australian Rugby Union Tour against New Zealand and played seventeen games and four internationals; Since the squad mainly consisted of young players, all four test matches were lost. In the following three years Davis accompanied the national team as captain in test matches against Scotland, South Africa (which were overshadowed by protests against apartheid ) and France; so he led the "Wallabies" in 1971 during the Australian Rugby Union Tour in France and in 1972 in New Zealand and Fiji .

On April 17, 1971 Davis was one of the selection players of the "President's Overseas XV" team, which competed against England on the occasion of the centenary of the Rugby Football Union . The President's Overseas XV game took place at Twickenham Stadium in London and was played in front of over 50,000 spectators.

Sports historian and former national rugby player Maxwell L. Howell writes of Davis that for the then 33-year-old "seven losses and only five wins" on his last Australian rugby union tour "were a disaster and prompted Davis to retire An injury sustained in New Zealand also prevented Davis from capturing the test match in Fiji . Peter David Sullivan finally led the "Wallabies" to a 21-19 win against Fiji, who had already taken over the role of team captain of Australia twice during the New Zealand stage: Davis only played eleven of thirteen games. The third test match in New Zealand against the "All Blacks" on September 16, 1972 was Greg Davis's final game and marked the end of his career. He was replaced by Peter David Sullivan.

With the national team of the National Rugby Union Davis played a total of 39 test matches as a player and 16 as a captain.

In retrospect, Maxwell L. Howell described Davis as a captain who “led from the top”, whose leadership style followed the “never give up” approach and thus “rallied the troops”. Due to its position as a flanker , he pulled in game situations quickly from the crowd and his speed of play and his "devastating attack" proved "as a scourge for the compound semiconductor " (English. Fly-halves) of the opposing team. Howell viewed Davis as "a leader of men who ( himself ) believed that a leader ought to lead" and as "a determined flanker who never revealed or asked for a game district."

literature

• Terry McLean: Red dragons of rugby: Welsh-All Black encounters from 1905-1969, including the 1969 Welsh Rugby Tour of New Zealand, Australia and Fiji . Reed, Wellington 1969, ISBN 978-0-589-00395-1 (English).
• Maxwell L. Howell : Born to Lead - Wallaby Test Captains . Celebrity Books, Auckland 2005, ISBN 978-1-877252-18-1 (English).
• Greg Growden: Inside the Wallabies: The Real Story, the Players, the Politics and the Games from 1908 to Today . Allen & Unwin, Australia 2010, ISBN 978-1-74175-970-9 , pp. 72 (English, google.de ).

Web links

• Greg Davis at ESPN. Retrieved June 12, 2019 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jim Webster: Union captain to return to New Zealand , The Sydney Morning Herald. May 29, 1973. Retrieved June 12, 2019. 
2. ↑ AUSTRALIAN RUGBY WELCOMES THREE WALLABY GREATS INTO HALL OF FAME . October 24, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2014.