George Gregan

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George Gregan
Full name George Musarurwa Gregan
Date of birth 1973-04-19
Place of birth Lusaka, Zambia
Height 1.73 m
Weight 76 kg
Rugby union career
Position Scrum-half
Super Rugby Caps (points)
1996-present Brumbies 123 (117)
Current local club: Randwick
correct as of 7 August, 2006.
National team(s)    
1994-present Australia 127 (99)
correct as of 11 September 2006.
Other Information
Occupation Professional rugby
union footballer
School  attended St Edmund's College
Spouse Erica Gregan
Children Max Gregan

George Musarurwa Gregan AM (born 19 April 1973 in Lusaka, Zambia) is an Australian rugby union scrum-half who has made more appearances for his national team than any other player in the sport's history. He has captained the team to many victories and he is respected throughout the rugby world for his tenacity, tactical skill, leadership ability, and sportsmanship, but is also known for his 'talk-back' to referees.

Gregan has played Super 12 (now Super 14) for the Brumbies since the inception of that competition in 1996, helping to lead them to overall victories in 2001 and 2004. He is a foundation Brumbies player and one of the few players whose careers span over both the amateur and professional eras.[1] His appearances as Australian captain include a Bledisloe Cup win in 2002 and an extra-time loss to England in the 2003 Rugby World Cup final.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Early life

Gregan was born in Zambia, of a Zimbabwean mother and an Australian father, coincidentally in the same hospital where Corné Krige, who would grow up to be the South Africa captain during Gregan's Wallabies captaincy, would be born two years later. His family moved to Australia when he was one year old, and he grew up in Canberra where he was educated at St Edmund's College. He represented Australia at under-19 and under-21 level.

[edit] Wallabies

He made his first appearance for the Wallabies in 1994 in a match against Italy in Brisbane, which the Wallabies won by three points, 23 to 20. He was subsequently capped in the victories over Italy again, and Western Samoa.

He made an immediate impact for the team, making a try-saving tackle on All Black Jeff Wilson that directly led to Australia winning the Bledisloe Cup that year and is much remembered as one of the greatest moments in the Wallabies-All Blacks rivalry. After two caps against Argentina the following season, Gregan had so far been on the winning side in all of his international games as Australia entered the 1995 World Cup in South Africa as defending champions.

Australia lost their opening match against the hosts during their pool stages, 27 to 18. Subsequent victories over Canada (in which Gregan was a reserve) and Romania saw the Wallabies finish second in the pool and make it to the quarter-finals. However, this was the stage at which they made their exit, losing 25 to 22 to England at Newlands in Cape Town.

The game went professional post-1995 World Cup, and one outcome of this was the formation of the Super 12, of which Gregan became a foundation player for the ACT Brumbies franchise. That season Gregan appeared eight times for the Wallabies, including solid wins over both Wales and Canada in Brisbane, scoring a try in the Canadian clash. Another outcome of professionalism was the forming of the Tri Nations Series between Australia, the All Blacks and South Africa. Gregan played in three of Australia's four fixtures at the first ever tournament, scoring a try in the 25 to 32 loss to the All Blacks in Brisbane.

He was elevated to the vice-captaincy of the Wallabies in 1997. Despite winning two tests against France the 1997 Tri Nations Series turned out not to be a success for the Wallabies. Gregan scored a try in the opening game against the All Blacks, which was eventually lost 18 to 33, and the Wallabies won only one game, against South Africa, finishing at the bottom of the table. At the end of the year Gregan was capped another four times, with the only loss being against England, winning and drawing matches against Argentina, and defeating Scotland. In 1998 England came to Australia in what was dubbed "The Tour from Hell", and Australia destroyed them 76 to nil. This was followed by two wins over Scotland, and finishing mid-table in the 1998 Tri Nations Series. Australia also completed their 1999 Rugby World Cup qualifying, defeating both Samoa and Fiji.

After winning in two matches against the Irish, and one against England in the winter of 1999 at home, they ended up finishing in the middle of the table for the 1999 Tri Nations Series (with Gregan having played in every match), though they were still favourable entering the 1999 World Cup held in Wales. Australia finished at the top of Pool E, winning all their games, with Gregan playing in the matches against Romania and Ireland, though he was rested in the final pool game against the USA. The Wallabies went onto defeat hosts Wales in the quarter finals at the new Millennium Stadium with Gregan scoring a try, putting Joe Roff into space and then taking the scoring pass, and enter the final after defeating defending champions South Africa in the semi-finals. The Wallabies became two-time World Champions after defeating France 35 to 12 in the final.

[edit] Appointed as captain

After the international retirement of John Eales in 2001, Gregan became the Wallabies captain. He was an obvious choice to fill the role, as it would be a natural progression from his position as vice-captain, as well as the fact that Gregan was a virtual automatic selection for the national team.[2]

Post-Eales/McQueen, Gregan began a new era of Australian rugby under his captaincy. The Wallabies embarked on a tour of Europe, which started off with a friendly against Spain in Madrid which the Wallabies won fairly easily. They then moved onto London, where they faced England at Twickenham, which the Wallabies lost 21 to 15. This was then followed by a loss to France in Marseille, and then a trip to the 1999 World Cup final venue to play the Welsh. The Wallabies won the last game 21 to 13.

After a decent start to his career as national captain, Gregan got things started the following season when Australia defeated France 29 to 17 in Melbourne in the first game of the winter tests. This was followed by another in the subsequent test against France in Sydney. After defeating France 2-nil in a test series the Wallabies were full of confidence in defending their Tri Nations title. The Wallabies lost their opening match against the All Blacks in Christchurch, but regrouped at went onto defeat the All Blacks and Springboks, though a final loss in South Africa prevented them from keeping the Tri Nations trophy in Australia, they did however finish above South Africa, and four points behind the All Blacks. At the end of the year the Wallabies defeated both Argentina and Italy, though they lost games against the English and Irish as they entered World Cup time the following year.

After wins over Ireland and Wales at home in the winter, as well as a loss against England, Australia entered the 2003 Tri Nations Series, which did not prove to be a success for either the Wallabies or the Springboks, both winning just one game, with the All Blacks cruising through undefeated. Gregan played in all of Australia's six World Cup matches at the 2003 event in Australia. Gregan landed an early drop goal in the close 17 to 16 victory over Ireland in the pool stages. He also scored a try in the 33 to 16 win over Scotland in the quarter-finals. He led the Wallabies into the final - defeating the All Blacks 22 to 10 in the semi-final to book a place with the English in the decider. Australia however went down to England 17 points to 20.

[edit] Post-World Cup

Following Australia's heartbreaking loss to the English in the World Cup, Gregan led the Wallabies on a massive winning campaign during the 2004 season. After defeating Scotland twice at home, the Wallabies faced the English in a World Cup replay in Brisbane, where they got their revenge, defeating England 51 to 15. Under Gregan, Australia lost just two matches in 2004, one against South Africa, and then against France in Paris. In June 2004 Gregan was appointed to the Order of Australia for his services to Rugby Union Football and in particular as the Captain of the Wallabies.

In July during the 2005 Tri Nations Series, Gregan ran out at Subiaco Oval in Perth against South Africa for his 100th Wallaby test.[3] In October 2004, Gregan announced that his four-year-old son had epilepsy and has launched an epilepsy awareness campaign in Australia with the slogan 'Get on the Team'. He also took up the role of patron of Brainwave Australia.

Gregan missed a lot of the 2005 Super 12 season after breaking his leg during a game against the New South Wales Waratahs in Canberra. He collided with opposition halfback Chris Whitaker in the second half, although it was initially thought that he had badly bruised his left leg, subsequent scans revealed a broken fibula.[4] Though he was expected to be fit to return for the test season. Gregan returned for the match against Italy in Melbourne, which the Wallabies won 61 to 29. Though after a win over the French and one over the Springboks, the Wallabies fell to the bottom of the 2005 Tri Nations Series table, losing all of their games.

With his start in the final match of the 2005 Tri Nations at Eden Park in Auckland against the All Blacks, Gregan equaled England's Jason Leonard as the most-capped player for a national team in Test rugby, with 114 (Leonard also has five Lions caps). However, the last 20 or so of Leonard's caps were from being fielded in the last 5 to 10 minutes of the game. Gregan on the other hand (to the amazement of rugby fans worldwide) was in the starting XV of the Wallabies in most of those 114 games. Appropriately, when Australia made their entrance for that match, Gregan went out on the field by himself before any of his teammates entered the pitch.

On 5 November 2005, he earned his 115th cap, surpassing Leonard, when he led out the Wallabies at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille against France. The Wallabies lost the match 6 to 26, which was the start of a disastrous tour of Europe. The French loss was followed by a meeting with the English at Twickenham, where England's superior scrummaging saw them also win 26 to 16. The Australian team, including Gregan, as well as Eddie Jones were starting to come under big pressure from the Australian media. Though the Wallabies got home against the Irish in Dublin, they then lost the final match of the tour against Wales, by just two points, but none the less, leaving Europe with a 1-3 record.

[edit] 2006

Upon returning to Australia, coach Eddie Jones was sacked and Gregan subsequently became under similar pressure. In the first test of 2006, under new coach John Connolly, the Wallabies completed a solid win over England with Gregan silencing his critics with a strong performance. A tactical move by Connolly saw him move Gregan to the bench for the second test of the Cook Cup, to give Sam Cordingley game time. Gregan came off the bench in the second half at Telstra Dome in Melbourne as he earned his 120th international cap - setting a new world record.

After the matches against the English and Irish the Wallabies entered the 2006 Tri Nations Series. Although losing the opening affair against the All Blacks, the Wallabies bounced back to defeat South Africa 49 points to nil. Two weeks later the All Blacks came to Brisbane for the Bledisloe Cup clash, in which Gregan equalled John Eales' record for most caps as captain of Australia, which is 55.[5] In the subsequent match against South Africa in Sydney, Gregan pasted Eales' record, becoming the most capped Australian captain of all time.[6] The Wallabies managed to scrape home 20 to 18, and Gregan was again under pressure from the Australian media, however such scrutiny has been viewed by some as heavily critical.[7] However, Gregan is coming under increasing pressure to step aside and let others such as Matt Giteau have a shot.[8] Connolly labelled the criticism of Gregan as unfair[9]. In the 2006 European Tour Gregan was rested and Matt Giteau was given a chance at halfback.

[edit] References

  1. ^ George Gregan. brumbies.com.au. Retrieved on June 17, 2007.
  2. ^ GREGAN NAMED WALLABY CAPTAIN. rugby.com.au. Retrieved on July 29, 2007.
  3. ^ George Gregan to Play his 100th Test Match. rugby.com.au. Retrieved on June 17, 2007.
  4. ^ George Gregan out for rest of Super 12. 2rugby.com. Retrieved on June 17, 2007.
  5. ^ Gregan to level Eales. sportal.com.au. Retrieved on July 29, 2007.
  6. ^ Gregan happy to win to ugly. scrum.com. Retrieved on August 9, 2007.
  7. ^ Gregan under microscope after Australia limp past S.Africa. guardian.co.uk. Retrieved on August 7, 2007.
  8. ^ Veteran Gregan under new attack. BBC Sport. Retrieved on August 7, 2007.
  9. ^ Connolly defends Gregan. sportal.com.au. Retrieved on August 9, 2007.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Preceded by
John Eales		 Australian national rugby union captain
2002-		 Succeeded by
incumbent
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