Rugby mourns loss of Wallabies legend

RUGBY UNION: It was 60 years ago that one Randwick Rugby Club legend pulled another myrtle green icon aside at training and asked for a favour.

Wally Meagher, then the president of the Galloping Greens, wanted Cyril Towers to go check out a promising teenager from Coogee who’d won a scholarship to Scots.

Now both Wallabies Hall-of-Famers, what Meagher and Towers didn’t know about rugby could fit on a napkin.

As Bob Dwyer tells the story, Towers asked: “So you think he’s good?”

“Wally replied: ‘I think he could become the greatest scrum-half the game has ever seen,’” Dwyer said.

The youngster was Ken Catchpole and, for many, Meagher’s prediction ended up being spot on. Within a mere three years, Catchpole (pictured) was not only a Wallaby but Australian captain as well.

A sombre week got even sadder in Australian rugby yesterday when Catchpole passed away, aged 78, following a long illness.

It came just days after the death of Stan Pilecki.

Catchpole debuted for the Wallabies in 1960 and in an eight-year career, cut controversially short, he played 27 Tests for Australia. He was captain for 13 of them.

“The things he did in the game are the things of legend. He was something else ... a phenomenal athlete,” Dwyer said. “Superb pass, agility, and he was tough.”

Catchpole debuted for NSW aged 19 in 1959, and he helped the Waratahs inflict the only defeat on the British Lions in their tour that year.

In 1960 the diminutive halfback was picked for the Wallabies and remarkably, after just three Tests, was appointed captain.

Catchpole’s career ended in 1968 when he suffered a severe leg injury in a Test against the All Blacks.