James Horwill (born 29 May 1985) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

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 has played for the Australian national side, with 61 caps to his name. He captained the Wallabies a number of times, including during the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Horwill played ten seasons in

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

for the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team based in Brisbane for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union ...

, followed by four seasons with English club Harlequins. His position was second row.

Personal life

Horwill was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, and educated at

Brisbane Boys College Brisbane Boys' College (BBC) is an independent, Presbyterian and Uniting Church, day and boarding school for boys, located in Toowong, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

. As of February 2016, he was living in south west London, with his wife. James has a multimillion-dollar Brisbane property portfolio.

Club career

Queensland Reds

Horwill made his Super 14 debut against arch rivals 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 ...

in the first game of the 2006 season, after not even being included in the Reds original squad. Horwill captained the

to a season victory in the 2011 in the

competition, his sixth season played at that level Overall, Horwill played more than 129 times for the

, including 116 Super Rugby caps for the Reds. When his departure was announced the Queensland Rugby CEO Jim Carmichael described him as "one of the great modern-day sporting treasures of Queensland."

Harlequins

On 17 December 2014, it was announced that Horwill had signed a three-year contract with English Premiership side Harlequins. He made his competitive debut in Quins' season opener against

Wasps FC {{Infobox rugby team , teamname = Wasps Football Club , nickname = , image = , colours = Black and yellow , fullname = , founded = 1867 , ground = Twyford Avenue Sports Ground , capacity = , location = Acton, Ealing, ...

on 16 October 2015 and immediately established himself as a first choice in the team. He scored his debut points with a try in the match against

Saracens F.C. Saracens Rugby Club () are an English professional rugby union club based in North London, England, currently playing in Premiership Rugby, which is the highest level of competition in English rugby. Established in 1876, the club has spent mo ...

on 9 January 2016. He also captained the side in the absence of Quins' England players. Horwill played his last season for Harlequins in 2018-19 before retiring from professional rugby. He then played for Cambridge University R.U.F.C. in the 2019 Varsity match.

International career

Horwill proved to be the find of the 2006 season, forcing his way into the starting line up and earning a place in the Wallabies spring tour, playing for Australia A in all three of the matches. In 2007, Horwill made his debut 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 ...

in a test match against

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

playing the entire game, and was unlucky to not have been included in the 2007 Rugby World Cup squad. 2008 was a successful year for Horwill, as he broke into the starting Wallabies team and played 9 games in 2008, starting against New Zealand in the Bledisloe Cup. In August 2011,

Robbie Deans Robert Maxwell Deans (born 4 September 1959) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player, currently the head coach of Japanese club Saitama Wild Knights. He was head coach of the Australian national team between 2008 and 2013. Deans prev ...

named James Horwill as captain for the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

in New Zealand. He debuted as captain in the deciding match of the 2011 Tri Nations series on 27 August 2011 and led the Wallabies to a series victory. Horwill was captain of the Wallabies for the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia in 2013. Controversially, after an appeal by the IRB, Horwill was cleared of allegedly stamping on

Alun Wyn Jones Alun Wyn Jones (born 19 September 1985) is a Welsh former rugby union player who played as a lock. He played most of his career for Ospreys and for the Wales national team. He is the world's most-capped rugby union player, with 158 caps f ...

face during the first test. He played his final game for the Wallabies in

The Rugby Championship The Rugby Championship, formerly known as the Tri Nations Series (1996–2011), is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are traditionally the four highest ran ...

game 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 ...

in Auckland on 15 August 2015. The following week, Australian coach

Michael Cheika Michael Cheika (born 4 March 1967) is an Australian professional rugby union and rugby league coach, and former rugby union player. He is head coach of Leicester Tigers in England's Premiership Rugby. Cheika was the coach of the Australia r ...

decided to leave Horwill out of his 31-man squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, a move which surprised some observers.

References

External links

*
Wallabies ProfileQueensland Reds Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horwill, James 1985 births Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Australia national rugby union team captains Queensland Reds players Brisbane City (rugby union) players Rugby union locks People educated at Brisbane Boys' College Living people Harlequin F.C. players Australian expatriate rugby union players in England Barbarian F.C. players Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players Rugby union players from Brisbane 2011 Rugby World Cup players 21st-century Australian sportsmen