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John Solomon (rugby)
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
player, a state and national representative versatile back who captained the Wallabies in eight Tests in the 1950s and the led touring squads to New Zealand and South Africa.
Early life & University
Educated at The Scots CollegeThe Scots College
For other schools with a similar name see Scots College.The Scots College is an independent Presbyterian day and boarding school for boys, located in Bellevue Hill, an eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
in Sydney, Solomon started his club rugby at the University rugby club
Sydney University Football Club
Sydney University Football Club, founded in 1863 , is the oldest club now playing rugby union in Australia, and as such is nicknamed "The Birthplace of Australian Rugby" or simply "The Birthplace".The club are the current NSWRU Premiers.The club was a member of the inaugural Sydney club competition...
when he commenced his medical studies at St Andrew's College
St Andrew's College, Sydney
St Andrew's College is a Protestant co-residential college within the University of Sydney, in the suburb of Camperdown.-History:St Andrew's College was incorporated by Act of Parliament and received Royal Assent from Queen Victoria on 12 December 1867. The St Andrew's College Act 1998 replaced the...
at Sydney University in 1948. He won University "blues" in 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1951.
Australian representative
He made his state and national representative debuts at age nineteen, first playing for Australia against the at the Sydney Cricket GroundSydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
in June 1949. Later that year he toured New Zealand with Trevor Allan
Trevor Allan
Trevor Allan OAM was an Australian dual-code rugby international who captained Australia in rugby union before switching to rugby league with English club Leigh.-Rugby union club career:...
's Bledisloe Cup
Bledisloe Cup
Rugby Union's Bledisloe Cup is contested by the Australia national rugby union team and New Zealand national rugby union team. It is named after Lord Bledisloe, the former Governor-General of New Zealand who donated the trophy in 1931. The trophy was designed in New Zealand by Nelson Isaac, and...
winning Wallabies. Solomon played variously at five-eighth, fullback and centre in seven matches of the tour including the 2nd Test at Eden Park where he scored a try thus helping the side make history as the first Australian team to win the Cup in New Zealand.
He played twice for New South Wales
New South Wales Waratahs
The New South Wales Waratahs are an Australian rugby union football team, representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super 15 Super Rugby competition...
in 1950 at against the visiting British and Irish Lions
British and Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...
and as five-eighth for Australia in both Tests of the tour. He was in the centres in the second Waratahs
New South Wales Waratahs
The New South Wales Waratahs are an Australian rugby union football team, representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super 15 Super Rugby competition...
match against the Lions who up till that point of their tour were undefeated. Solomon held his own against the world-class opposition of Bleddyn Williams
Bleddyn Williams
Bleddyn Williams MBE , was a Welsh rugby union centre. He played in 22 internationals for Wales, captaining them five times, winning each time, and captained the British Lions in 1950 for some of their tour of Australia and New Zealand...
and Lewis Jones.
In 1951 Solomon played against the visiting All Blacks
All Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
in two Tests and with the Waratahs. The selectors experimented with Keith Winning and Colin Windon
Colin Windon
Colin Windon was an Australian soldier and a state and national representative rugby union player who captained the Wallabies in six Test matches in 1951...
as captain and then in 1952 when Australia hosted the exciting Fijians
Fiji national rugby union team
The Fiji national rugby union team is a member of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance formerly along with Samoa and Tonga. In 2009, Samoa announced their departure from the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance, leaving just Fiji and Tonga. Fiji are ranked sixteenth in the world by the IRB as of 26...
, Solomon was honoured with the national captaincy aged just twenty-two. Fiji had not previously played against Australia and had only competed at the world-class level against New Zealand in 1939. Solomon made an outstanding debut as captain on this historic occasion. He played at inside-centre and clinched the first Test for Australia when he dived over for a try six minutes from the end. The Fijians won the 2nd Test but in the process earned the respect of the Australian rugby public who delighted in the spectacular running and carefree play of the Fijians who would wrestle the ball at every opportunity and who employed long, one-handed and sometimes reckless passing.
Australia then undertook a ten matches tour of New Zealand for which Solomon was chosen as captain with tour manager the 1927 Waratah, Jock Blackwood. Solomon's Wallabies won eight of the ten games including one Test victory and one Test loss. Solomon scored three tries in the nine matches in which he played, captaining his country in all.
South Africa national rugby union team
The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...
. Wylie Breckenbridge and Johnnie Wallace
Johnnie Wallace
Arthur Cooper "Johnnie" Wallace was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative three-quarter who captained the Waratahs on 25 occasions in the 1920s as well as representing for Scotland early in his career.-University & early representative career:Wallace arrived at St...
were the management team but Wallace took ill and many organisational and coaching responsibilities fell to Solomon. He himself was ill for the first three games but recovered to play in 14 of the 27 tour matches including three Tests. In the 2nd Test Australia were trailing 14-8 when Solomon had to leave the field with a knee injury. He recovered to feature in a back-line play that saw Brian Johnson score in the corner and Eddie Stapleton boot the conversion from out wide to take the score to 14-13. From the kick-off another enterprising running back-line play saw Solomon play a role which culminated in winger Garth Jones scoring under the posts to enable a Wallaby victory. In a surprise gesture fitting the rarity in those days of the South Africa
South Africa national rugby union team
The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...
being beaten at home, the Boks forwards chaired Solomon from the field.
Following the South African tour, Solomon took a year out to attend to his medical studies but returned in 1955 to captain the Wallabies to New Zealand with Wylie Breckenbridge as manager and Bill Cerutti as assistant manager/coach. Solomon only played in six of the thirteen games suffering a dislocated shoulder against a Canterbury/Otago side which marked the end of his representative career. He later coached at the University club as well as the Australian national side.
Accolades and honours
His 1953 South African tour teammate Sir Nicholas ShehadieNicholas Shehadie
Sir Nicholas Michael Shehadie, AC, OBE KStJ is the former Lord Mayor of Sydney and a former national representative rugby union captain, who made thirty career Test appearances...
described him as follows: "Quick enough to play centre or wing, equipped with a skilful swerve and sharp acceleration when a gap appeared. Much admired for his astute captaincy".
Sources
- Collection (1995) Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby, Harper Collins Publishers Sydney - (Essay specific to this article Syd King's A Change From Batter & Heave 1st published Sporting Life Aug 1952)
- Howell, Max (2005) Born to Lead - Wallaby Test Captains, Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ
- Shehadie, Nicholas (2003) A Life Worth Living, Simon & Schuster Australia