James Kenneth Michael Lenehan (29 April 1938 – 26 August 2022) 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 ...

footballer. A

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and

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representative versatile back, he played twenty-four Test matches for Australia, once as captain. His national representative career spanned a ten-year period during which time he made two grand

Wallaby A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized Macropodidae, 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 Taxonomy (biology), taxon ...

tours to the northern hemisphere and Home Nations and numerous appearances against

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and

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.Clark, Theo
James Lenehan: Wallaby made name with lightning runs and thunderous kicks
''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 31 Aug 2022

Early life

A grazier's son, Lenehan was born and raised in the Riverina town of

Narrandera Narrandera ( ), until around 1949 also spelled "Narandera", is a town located in the central Riverina region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The town lies on the junction of the Newell Highway, Newell and Sturt Highway, Sturt highwa ...

near

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...

, New South Wales.Classic Wallabies Player Profiles
James Kenneth Lenehan
classicwallabies.com.au He was sent to boarding school in Sydney at

Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview Saint Ignatius' College Riverview is an Australian independent single-sex primary and secondary Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding school for boys located in Riverview, New South Wales, Riverview, a small suburb on the Lane Cove Rive ...

. Howell, Max (2005) ''Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains'', Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ. pp. 179–181. He was a schoolboy hurdler of some note at the GPS athletics level. In the 1956 GPS athletics competition, he won the open shot put with 57 feet, 21 inches, and the open 120 yards hurdles in 14.5 seconds. Riverview legend has it that the shot put hit the picket fence some way up and so the record could only be measured to the fence. His shot put record stood until 1999 and his hurdles unbeaten until 2009. After school his rugby career continued with the Wagga Wagga Waratahs and the Narrandera Rugby Club.

Representative rugby career

Lenehan was a tremendous left-foot punt kicker of the ball and is said to have regularly kicked the ball 75 m in matches. He was an excellent goal-kicker and a punishing defender who used his full 14 stone playing weight to hit opponents ferociously. His potential was noticed at school by national coach Alan Roper, who also coached at Riverview. At 19 years of age with only some school and country rugby behind him, he was trialled and selected in the squad 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 ...

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 ...

. His eight-month tour was a dream representative debut. His Test debut was made against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and he played in four of the five Tests of the tour and in thirty-two of the total forty-one games. He was the leading point scorer (114 points) and leading try scorer (13). He caused some controversy in the 3rd Test – that against

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when he knocked England's Peter Thompson out cold in a tackle that some of the crowd felt was late and cynical. He was booed by the Twickenham crowd as he had been similarly by the crowd in the tour match against

Swansea RFC Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Super Rygbi Cymru. The club play at St Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea and are also known as ''The Whites,'' in reference to their home kit colours. History ...

three weeks earlier. In a tour which was not successful for the Wallabies (winning nil from five Tests and only winning 22 of the total 41 matches) Lenehan's performances were strong and he returned to Australian with his playing reputation enhanced. In 1958 he made 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

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

against the visiting

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and that same year embarked on a tour of New Zealand where he played in two tour matches but was prevented from any Test appearances due to injury. In 1959 he played for Australia in both Tests against the visiting British Lions as well as in state and regional representative teams that met them. In 1961 he made his first tour to

playing in five of the six possible tour matches including both Tests against the

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 ...

. That year he played at fullback in the one-off

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 ...

Test against

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. In 1962 he was honoured with the national captaincy in the second Test against the

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in Sydney. He would have captained the side in the first Test but was kept out by injury and that honour went to Peter Johnson. On the tour to New Zealand that same year he was the squad's vice-captain with

John Thornett John Edward Thornett, MBE (30 March 1935 – 4 January 2019) was an Australian rugby union player, who played 37 Tests for Australia between 1955 and 1967 and made an additional 77 representative match appearances. He captained Australia in 16 ...

commencing his leadership ascendancy at that time. Lenehan played in nine of the thirteen matches, including all three Tests and captained the side in a mid-week tour game. Injury stopped him making any representative appearances in 1963 and he was sent home from a tour squad bound for South Africa with a knee problem. In 1965 he returned to the national scene for two Tests against the

which Australia won. His devastating defensive capabilities saw him named for the

1966–67 Australia rugby union tour of Britain, Ireland and France Between October 1966 and March 1967 the Australia national rugby union team – the Wallabies – conducted a world tour on which they played five Tests and thirty-one minor tour matches. Under the captaincy of John Thornett they toured UK, Irel ...

. Along with Tony Miller he became at that time, one of only two Australian players after

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 ...

to make his second "grande tour" since till that point Wallaby tours to the British Isles and Europe were always spaced a decade apart. He enjoyed another successful tour playing in all five Tests, 23 of the 36 possible matches and placing 2nd as tour point scorer behind Phil Hawthorne. Later in 1967 he made the final state and national appearance of his illustrious career when the Ireland national team toured to Sydney.

Accolades

Lenehan was inducted into the Wagga Wagga City Council, Sporting Hall of Fame and given a biographical entry on the city website.

References

External links

*
Lenehan at Wagga City Sporting Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenehan, Jim 1938 births 2022 deaths Australia national rugby union team captains Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Rugby union players from Wagga Wagga Rugby union fullbacks People educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview New South Wales rugby union team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen