Andrew John Cairns (born 25 August 1967) is an Australian former international

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 ...

player. Born in Sydney, Cairns received his early education at Canberra Grammar, but finished his schooling at

St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill St Joseph's College (abbreviated as SJC and commonly called ''Joeys'') is an independent Catholic secondary day and boarding school for boys, conducted in the Marist Brothers tradition, located in Hunters Hill, a suburb on the Lower North Sh ...

, where he featured in a GPS premiership-winning 1st XV. While at St Joseph's College he was selected for the Australian Schools 1986 tour of New Zealand. He represented the Australia national under-21 rugby union team in 1988, with the Phil Kearns-captained side defeating New Zealand under-21s at Ballymore Stadium. Cairns, a halfback, began his senior career with Eastwood and made his

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

representative debut in 1989, the same year he scored four tries for a President's XV against the AIS. In 1990, Cairns was flown over to New Zealand to link up with 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 ...

, after

Nick Farr-Jones Nicholas Campbell Farr-Jones AM (born 18 April 1962) is a former Australian rugby union player, who played as a scrum-half. He debuted for the Australia national team during the 1984 tour of Britain and Ireland. Farr-Jones was named "Player ...

injured his hamstring. The squad's reserve halfback, Peter Slattery, was to be rested for their tour match against North Auckland and the Wallabies required the services of Cairns, who impressed coach Bob Dwyer in a 28–14 win. He ended the year with selection to the Emerging Wallabies side for their tour to Europe. Cairns finished his career playing in Canberra with the Tuggeranong Vikings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cairns, Andrew 1967 births Living people Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union scrum-halves New South Wales rugby union team players Eastwood Rugby Club players People educated at Canberra Grammar School People educated at St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill 20th-century Australian sportsmen

See also

References