Lachlan 'Lachie' David Turner (born 11 May 1987) is an Australian professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player who retired at the end of 2018 season. In his usual position of

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is exp ...

. He has a strong kicking game, which allows him to also play at fullback. Turner has represented Australia in international Test rugby. He played

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 previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

for the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the state, ...

from 2007 to 2013, before joining the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team 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 club competitions ...

in 2014. Turner then joined the NSW Waratahs but unfortunately tore his hamstring and had to have surgery.

Early life

Born in Sydney, Turner attended

Newington College , motto_translation = To Faith Add Knowledge , location = Inner West and Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = A ...

and was selected for the

Australian Schoolboys The Australian Schoolboys refer to junior teams that represent Australia in various sports. The name is mainly used in rugby league, rugby union and baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine player ...

rugby team in 2005. Turner played club rugby for

Eastwood Eastwood may refer to: Places ;in Australia *Eastwood, New South Wales ** Eastwood railway station **Electoral district of Eastwood *Eastwood, South Australia ;in Canada * Eastwood, Ontario * Eastwood, Edmonton, Alberta, a neighborhood ;in the ...

, and was invited to join the Waratahs Academy in 2006 under coach Joe Barakat's guidance. He was selected for and played in the Australian Under 19 side which won the

2006 Under 19 Rugby World Championship The 2006 Under 19 Rugby World Championship took place in United Arab Emirates between 4 April and 21 April 2006. Australia won the final over New Zealand 17–13. Pool/standings The IRB setting for this tournament was that the matches were to b ...

in Dubai.

Club career

Turner made his debut for the Waratahs against Reds in the 2006

Australian Provincial Championship The Australian Provincial Championship, or APC, is a now-defunct rugby union football competition played in Australia. It was one of several provincial competitions since the late 1960s, including the Wallaby Trophy and Ricoh National Champion ...

, and was awarded the inaugural Chris Whitaker Aspiring Waratah Award at the end of the 2006 season. In 2007, Turner earned his first

Super 14 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

cap for the Waratahs in round seven against the

Stormers The Stormers (known for sponsorship reasons as the DHL Stormers) is a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town in the Western Cape that competes in the United Rugby Championship, a trans-hemispheric competition that also ...

in Sydney. The highlight for Turner came against the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

at Aussie Stadium, where he scored a solo try from his own half, beating several defenders for pace. He capped off the season by winning the 2007 Super Rugby Rookie of the Year award. From his debut in 2007 through to the end of the 2011 season, Turner did not miss a Super Rugby match for the Waratahs – an impressive run of 67 consecutive appearances. Turner scored two tries in the 2008 Super 14 final against the

in Christchurch, giving the Waratahs an early 12–3 lead, but they lost structure after

Kurtley Beale Kurtley James Beale (born 6 January 1989) is an Australian professional rugby union representative player who has made over 90 national representative appearances in a ten-year playing career at the world-class level. He is of Aboriginal desce ...

went off injured and the Crusaders won the match 20–12 to claim the 2008 title. In the 2010 season, he scored an intercept try against the Blues with eight minutes left, sealing the win for the Waratahs and keeping the team in top four finals contention. During 2011, he switched position from wing to centre for the first time for the Waratahs, to cover for the injured

Rob Horne Rob Horne (born 15 August 1989) is an Australian former rugby union footballer who played at centre for the Waratahs, Northampton Saints, and Australia. Early life Horne attended Lugarno Public School and Georges River College, Oatley Campus ...

. Turner sustained a hamstring tear in 2012 during a pre-season trial match for the Waratahs against Samoa, and was forced to miss all but the last two matches of the

2012 Super Rugby season The 2012 Super Rugby season was the second season of the current 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involves teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as FxPro Super ...

. In April 2013, he had his Super Rugby ambitions derailed for the second year in a row after suffering a season ending leg break while playing Sydney club rugby for Eastwood against Manly. Turner had been in and out of the Waratahs side until then, and had earned only two Super caps for the 2013 season, in the selection battle for the Waratahs back three. In 2013, Turner signed a two-year deal to play for the

, starting from the

2014 Super Rugby season The 2014 Super Rugby season is the fourth season of the 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as Asteron Life Super Rugby i ...

. In 2015, Turner came over to Europe and joined

RC Toulon R&C, RC, R/C, Rc, or rc may refer to: Science and technology Computing * rc, the default Command line interface in Version 10 Unix and Plan 9 from Bell Labs * .rc (for "run commands"), a filename extension for configuration files in UNIX-like ...

as cover during the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

. However, on 16 February 2016 it was announced that Turner had joined

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is th ...

club

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played its home m ...

on a two and a half year deal.

International career

On 25 May 2007, Turner was selected for Australia A against

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

Aussie Stadium The Sydney Football Stadium, commercially known as Allianz Stadium and previously Aussie Stadium, was a football stadium in Moore Park, Sydney, Australia. Built in 1988 next to the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stadium was Sydney's premier rect ...

in Sydney. He scored three tries in a man-of-the-match performance. Despite calls from some quarters for him to be included in the Wallabies squad for the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to ...

in France, the then 20-year-old winger was left at home. An injury to

Lote Tuqiri Lote Daulako Tuqiri (born 23 September 1979) is a former professional dual-code rugby footballer who primarily played as a winger across both codes. He represented Australia in both rugby league and rugby union, and Fiji in rugby league. Tuqi ...

enabled Turner to make his Test debut on 5 July 2008, starting on the wing against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. He toured with the Wallabies on the 2008 Spring tour, and played against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Padova Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

. Turner was selected for all three 2009 June Tests and for all six matches of the

2009 Tri Nations Series The 2009 Tri Nations Series was the fourteenth annual Tri Nations rugby union series between the national rugby union teams of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, respectively nicknamed the All Blacks, Wallabies, and Springboks. The Sprin ...

. He toured with the Wallabies on the 2009 Spring tour but did not play any Test matches. In August 2010, he was recalled to the Wallabies squad following injuries to Peter Hynes and

Cameron Shepherd Cameron Shepherd (born 30 March 1984, Windsor, England) is an Australian rugby union footballer. He notably played for the Western Force in the international Super Rugby competition. His usual position is at fullback or wing. Biography Shephe ...

, and when

Drew Mitchell Drew Alan Mitchell (born 26 March 1984) is a former Australian rugby union professional player. He played on the wing or as fullback. Up to the 2006 season he played for the Queensland Reds. He played for the Western Force for the 2007–09 Sup ...

succumbed to a hamstring injury, Turner played on the wing against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 198 ...

ANZ Stadium ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand ** ...

in the

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition originally staged 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 va ...

match in Sydney on 11 September 2010. Turner made two further Wallaby tours, in 2010 and 2011. He played in the wins over

and

in 2010, and in the win against

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

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national ru ...

in 2011. He was a member of the 2010 Rugby Sevens squad that won silver at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.

Personal achievement

On 15 September 2010, Turner won the "Gatorade Bolt", an invitational 100 metres race held at

Sydney Olympic Park Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb of Greater Western Sydney, located 13 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Parramatta Council. It is commonly known as Olympic Park but officially n ...

, to earn himself the unofficial title of the fastest professional footballer in Australia. The event was named for the presence of athletics sprint champion

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight-ti ...

, who provided some coaching for the runners and also celebrated the 10th anniversary of the

2000 Summer Olympics opening ceremony The opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on the evening of Friday 15 September 2000 in Stadium Australia, Sydney, during which the Games were formally opened by Governor-General Sir William Deane. As mandated by the Olympic ...

held in Sydney. The race featured Turner's rugby union club team mate John Grant,

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

players

Jarryd Hayne Jarryd Lee Hayne (born 15 February 1988) is a former professional rugby league footballer who also briefly played American football and rugby union sevens. Hayne began his career in 2006 as a er for the Parramatta Eels, winning the NRL's ...

Greg Inglis Gregory Paul Inglis (born 15 January 1987), also known by the nickname of "G.I.", is a retired Australian professional rugby league footballer. His regular playing positions were Centre, Fullback, Five-eighth and Wing. From 2011 to 2019 he pl ...

, Josh Morris,

Nathan Gardner Nathan Gardner (born 3 July 1990), also known by the nickname of "Gards", is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who has played in the 2000s and 2010s. He has played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, usually as a , but also as ...

, and

Ben Barba Ben Barba (born 13 June 1989) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who last played for St Helens in the Super League. He primarily played as a or . He was banned by both the NRL and Rugby Football League in February ...

, plus Matt Lewis from the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competit ...

, and Courtenay Dempsey from the

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

. Turner won the race with a time of 11.10s, in a close contest from Grant (11.15) and league's Jarryd Hayne (11.20).

Reference list

External links

* *
Reds profile
* *
Article on Turner set to become a rising star, by Spiro Zavos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Lachlan 1987 births Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players New South Wales Waratahs players Queensland Reds players Brisbane City (rugby union) players Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks People educated at Newington College Living people Australia international rugby sevens players Male rugby sevens players Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Rugby sevens players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players of Australia Rugby union players from Sydney Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games