Denis Lawson "Dave" Cowper (28 November 1908 – 5 December 1981) was an Australian national representative

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 who captained 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 ...

for six matches including three Tests in 1933. He was the first Victorian player to captain his country in rugby union.Australian Rugby – The Game and the Players (Jack Pollard Syd, 1994) pp 123: Cowper, Denis Lawson "Dave" (1908–1981)

Club career

Born at

Mosman, New South Wales Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore (Sydney), Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative c ...

Cowper was educated at

Newington College Newington College is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Single-sex education, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primar ...

in Sydney (1923–1927). He played club rugby with the

Northern Suburbs Rugby Club Northern Suburbs Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based on Sydney's Lower North Shore, that was formed in 1900 from the merger of the Pirates and Wallaroos clubs. The club competes in the Shute Shield competition run by the New South ...

before relocating to Melbourne at age 21 where he continued at the

Melbourne Rugby Union Football Club The Melbourne Rugby Union Football Club, is a rugby union football club based in Melbourne, Australia. Nicknamed the Unicorns, the club plays at Romanis Reserve in Prahran and was founded in 1926. The club's colours are green, blue and gold. H ...

. He trialled for Australia as a sprinter, placing third in the national trials for the 100m held to select a team for the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...

Representative career

He made his representative debut in 1930 for Victoria against

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scoring three tries in a narrow 36–41 loss. He was then selected in the 1931 full Australian side sent to New Zealand and captained by Syd Malcolm with Cyril Towers 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 ...

in the senior playing group. They won three, drew one and lost six matches including the single Test. Cowper played in nine of the ten matches, three on the wing and the rest at centre. Cowper scored two tries in his Test debut in 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 ...

match played at

Eden Park Eden Park is a sports venue in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located three kilometres southwest of the Auckland CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and Kingsland. The main stadium has a nominal capacity of 50,000, and is s ...

and was the second top-scorer of the tour with six tries.Howell p104 In 1932, he again met the

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 ...

in three Test appearances when they came to Australia, scoring tries in two of those fixtures. Howell describes him as having "speed to burn, a great outside swerve, sound in defence and a born leader of men". In 1933, Cowper was in the squad that made Australia's first ever rugby tour of

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. He played in 17 of the 23 games including all five Tests and was the tour top scorer with 34 points from four tries, nine conversions and a dropped goal. He captained Australia in three tour matches and in three Tests, being first honoured as captain in the first Test of the tour when Malcolm and Ross were unavailable through injury. Though born in New South Wales, Cowper at that point became the first Victorian to captain the Wallabies.Howell p104 He made further state representative appearances for

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 ...

and Victoria in 1934 and 1935.

Coaching career

He became an Australian selector and was assistant manager and coach of the squad for the 1957-58 Australia rugby union tour of Britain, Ireland and France. The tour was a disappointment with the Wallabies losing all five Tests. Howell writes that Cowper, "ever the gentleman, never criticised the players, even when he had every right to....he personified the true amateur, playing always to the rules with a strict code of ethics". Squad member

Nicholas Shehadie Sir Nicholas Michael Shehadie, (16 November 1926 – 11 February 2018) was a Lord Mayor of Sydney (1973–1975) and national representative rugby union captain, who made thirty career test appearances for Australia between 1947 and 1958. He wa ...

was less complimentary in his published recollections, suggesting Cowper had limited imagination as a coach and their training was "devoid of variety which made it very tedious".Shehadie p194 His late son

Bob Cowper Robert Maskew Cowper (5 October 1940 – 11 May 2025) was an Australian cricketer who played Test cricket for Australia from 1964 to 1968, and Sheffield Shield cricket for Victoria and Western Australia from 1960 to 1970. He scored the first ...

played

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

for Australia in the 1960s.

References

Bibliography

* Collection (1995) ''Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby'', HarperCollins Publishers Sydney * Howell, Max (2005) ''Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains'', Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ * Zavos, Spiro (2000) ''Golden Wallabies'' Penguin Sydney * Shehadie, Nicholas (2003) ''A Life Worth Living'', Simon & Schuster Australia

External links

Dave Cowper at StatsGuru
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowper, Dave 1908 births 1981 deaths Australian rugby union coaches Australian rugby union players Australia national rugby union team captains Australia international rugby union players Rugby union centres People educated at Newington College Rugby union players from Sydney Northern Suburbs Rugby Club players New South Wales rugby union team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen