Desmond Michael Connor (born 9 August 1935 in

Ashgrove, Queensland Ashgrove is a Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Ashgrove had a population of 13,450 people. Geography Ashgrove is located approximately by road north-west of the Brisbane GPO ...

) is an Australian former

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 represented internationally both the

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and

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s. He is an inductee in the

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Hall of Fame.

Australian rugby career

After taking up the game at the Marist Brothers Ashgrove, Connor honed his skills further with the Brothers club. He made his representative debut for

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in 1954 and made further appearances for the state over the next five years.Howell p159 He was selected in Australian national squad for the Wallabies

1957–58 Australia rugby union tour of Britain, Ireland and France Between late 1957 and March 1958 the Australia national rugby union team – the Wallabies – conducted a world tour encompassing Britain, Ireland, France and Canada on which they played five Tests and thirty-one minor tour matches. The Wallabi ...

. Connor made his Australian test debut on 4 January 1958 against

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and played in all five internationals on the Australian tour. Later that year he captained the Wallabies in Tests against the

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, and then played against 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 ...

on a tour of New Zealand. At the start of the 1960s he left Australia to continue his teaching career in New Zealand, teaching at Takapuna Grammar.

New Zealand rugby career

Following his move to New Zealand he was capped 12 times by the

, with a record of 10 wins, a draw and a defeat. The defeat came in his final match in 1964, against Australia at

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Coaching

He was to return to Australian rugby as a coach firstly at Brisbane Brothers, then

and Australia. He led the Wallabies in that role in their home series against New Zealand in 1968. A keen tactician and student of the game, Connor studied the rulebook and after consulting with referees, he introduced in the first Test the first short lineout used in the Southern Hemisphere. Connor also oversaw the

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and 1971 tours to South Africa.

References

* Howell, Max (2005) ''Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains'', Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Connor, Des 1935 births Australian expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Australia international rugby union players Australia national rugby union team coaches Australia national rugby union team captains Australian rugby union coaches Australian rugby union players Brothers Old Boys players Living people New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves Rugby union players from Brisbane People educated at Marist College Ashgrove Auckland rugby union players Queensland rugby union team players