Cyril Towers (30 July 1906 – 9 June 1985) was an Australian

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, a state and

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

representative centre who made 57 appearances for 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 ...

, played in 19 Test matches and captained the national team on three occasions in 1937.

Club career

Cyril Towers was born in

Mansfield, Victoria Mansfield is a town in the foothills of the Victorian Alps in the Australian state of Victoria. It is approximately north-east of Melbourne by road. The population of Mansfield was at the 2021 census. Mansfield is the seat of the Mansfi ...

. His father was killed at

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

when he was nine-years-old. After his mother remarried, his family moved first to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, then to

Roma, Queensland Roma is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Maranoa Region. The town was incorporated in 1867 and is named after Lady Diamantina Bowen ...

, before they settled in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. Towers attended

Randwick Boys High School Randwick Boys' High School (RBHS) was a boys' high school located in Randwick, Randwick, Sydney, Australia, between Rainbow Street and Avoca Street. Operated by the New South Wales Department of Education with students from years 7 to 12, the sc ...

where he was taught

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

by Oates Taylor, described by former Australian rugby coach

Bob Dwyer Bob Dwyer AM (born 29 November 1940) is an Australian rugby union coach. Early life Educated at Sydney Boys High School, from which he graduated in 1957, Dwyer played 2nd XV rugby for the school, lining up alongside former Canterbury-Bankstow ...

as a "forward-thinking coach." Towers was later transferred to

Waverley College Waverley College is a dual-campus independent Catholic early learning, primary and secondary day school for boys, located on Birrell and Henrietta Street in Waverley, in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, Australia. The school was founded by the C ...

where he came under the influence of coach Arthur Hennessey and future

player

Wally Meagher Francis Wallace Meagher (1903 – 14 December 1966) was a 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 ...

, whom he would play with on the

1927–28 New South Wales rugby union tour of the British Isles, France and Canada Between July 1927 and March 1928 the New South Wales Waratahs, the top Australian representative rugby union side of the time, conducted a world tour encompassing Ceylon, Britain, France and Canada on which they played five Tests and twenty-six ...

. Towers' club career was with

Randwick DRUFC Randwick District Rugby Union Football Club, also known as the Galloping Greens, is an Australian rugby union club based in Randwick City Council, a Local Government Area in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The team competes in the Sydney premier ...

in Sydney for whom he made 233 first grade appearances. Along with Wally Meagher his senior at Randwick, Towers pioneered the application of running rugby tactics at the club. "Attack" was the main credo, setting up the wings the main goal and kicking for touch was frowned upon.

Representative career

His representative debut was as a 19-year-old in 1926 when selected for the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play t ...

to appear against a touring

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

outfit. New South Wales won the match 26–20 and Towers was recalled for the fourth encounter which the hosts lost 21–28. With no

Queensland Rugby Union The Queensland Rugby Union, or QRU, is the Sports governing body, governing body for the sport of Rugby union in Queensland in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. History The QRU was founded in Brisbane in 1883 as t ...

administration or competition in place from 1919 to 1929, the

were the top Australian representative

team of the period and these debut matches were in 1986 decreed by the

Australian Rugby Union Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It is a ...

as official Test matches. Towers was selected for the

, turning 21 on the ship going over. He played in 25 matches of the tour exceeded only by Wylie Breckenbridge (29),

Tom Lawton Thomas Anthony Lawton (born Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, 1 November 1962) is a former Australian rugby union player. He played as a hooker. Career Lawton comes from a known rugby union family: his grandfather, Tom Lawton, Snr was an impo ...

(27) and

Alex Ross Nelson Alexander Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an American comic book creator, comic book writer and artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries ''Marvels'', on which ...

(29). With Jack Ford he was the equal top try scorer and the equal second highest point scorer behind Lawton. He played in three Test matches of the tour. He wrote a travel diary of the 1927–28 tour which was serialised between June and December 1928 for the magazine ''Australian Banker''. (Towers worked in banking). His Test match reports are quoted extensively in the tour article. Towers toured

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in 1928 with the Waratahs under Syd Malcolm as captain.

Geoff Bland Geoffrey Victor Bland (26 September 1905 – 26 February 1961) was an Australian international rugby union player. Biography Bland, a native of Sydney, was educated at Manly High School and St Mary's Cathedral College. He was a surf life saver ...

was the only other veteran from the 1927 World Tour squad and five matches in total were won and five lost. Towers played in all matches, including three Tests and was top scorer with 29 points. Howell quotes Chester and McMillan from ''The Visitors'': '' "Towers was hailed by many critics as the best centre in the world rugby and was certainly one of the great Australian players of all time"''. In 1929 the

toured Australia, Towers was in two of the three Test team captained by

which for the first time in history beat the All Blacks 3–0 in a series whitewash. With the

now back in existence for the first time since 1919 this was the first truly national

team fielded since 1914.

National captain

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

toured Australia in 1930 and Towers played against them in four matches for state and country. Then in 1931 he was a senior in the full Australian team sent to New Zealand with Syd Malcolm as captain. They won three, drew one and lost six matches including the single Test but Towers played in nine matches, was the tour's top try-scorer and was honoured for the first time with the national captaincy in a minor match against Seddon Shield Districts. In 1933, Towers was left out of the squad that made Australia's first ever rugby tour of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It was a controversial omission made by team manager Dr Wally Mathews because of Towers' forthrightness and perceived disruptiveness. Still he had further representative appearances ahead of him. In 1934 he played in the two match series against the

in which the Wallabies wrestled away the

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has varied, as has the n ...

for the first time. Then in 1937 perhaps his finest hour, as Australia's Test captain in the 9–5 defeat against the touring

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabhokobhoko) is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

then hailed as the finest team in the world, in which game Towers scored all of Australia's points and inspired the defence to hold out the Boks onslaught.Howell p116 He retired in 1940 after having again been left out of the 1939 Wallaby team – a blessing since the team travelled to the other side of the world but did not play a match due to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He had played 57 matches for Australia, 19 of them Tests, 2 of those as captain.

Post-playing and family

In retirement he was one of the first rugby commentators, becoming known as the "voice of rugby" from his broadcasts for the

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is a ...

. His son-in-law Jake Howard played in the front-row for the Wallabies in the 1970s. Jake's son, Cyril's grandson

Pat Howard Patrick William Howard (born 14 November 1973) is an ex-head coach at Leicester Tigers and a former Australian rugby union international who played centre or fly-half. He was the General Manager, Team Performance – for the Australia nationa ...

, also played centre for Australia in the 1990s. A plaque in the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

's Walk of Honour commemorates Towers' career. In 2006 he was honoured in the second set of inductees into the

Hall of Fame

References

Sources

* * Collection (1995) ''Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby'', Harper Collins Publishers Sydney * Howell, Max (2005) ''Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains'', Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ

External links

Stats

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Towers, Cyril 1906 births 1985 deaths Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Australia national rugby union team captains Rugby union players from Victoria (state) Rugby union centres Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Randwick DRUFC players People educated at Randwick Boys High School New South Wales rugby union team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen