Arthur Cooper "Johnnie" Wallace

Whenever the phrase “playing style” is discussed in earnest there are two names from the Randwick club which come immediately to mind - Wally Meagher and Cyril Towers. However, it would be more than remiss not to add a third - Johnnie Wallace - to that list. A dual rugby union international, captain, coach and manager, Wallace led the famous 19287/28 Waratahs tour to the northern hemisphere. He was also a great teacher, so good in fact that Towers always credited Wallace with his learning of how to time the pass, a feature of the great centre’s game that later made him renowned throughout the rugby world. Always, till the end of his life, Wallace extolled the Waratah style of play, the running game.

Equally adept anywhere in the three-quarter line, perhaps favouring the wing, Wallace had a good turn of speed with a great outside break and was a magnificent finisher. He attended Sydney Grammar School where he played four seasons in the 1st XV (1916-1919) winning two premierships (1916 & 1919), the final year as captain. In both 1918 and 1919 he was selected in the GPS 1st XV. Wallace was also in Grammar’s Head of the River winning 1st XIII for three years (1917-19), the last two as Captain of Boats.

A resident in St Andrew’s College, Wallace went on to study arts at the University of Sydney, won a rowing blue and excelled at rugby union. In 1920, Wallace played in the first-grade side which won the premiership. The following year Wallace had his first taste of representative rugby when he was picked for New South Wales as a reserve for the home series against South Africa before he was chosen to tour New Zealand later in that season.

After a start in the first tour match against North Auckland, in which he scored a try, Wallace went on to win selection for the one-off international in Christchurch. Although he did not know it at the time that match was also Wallace’s official Test debut following an ARU decision in 1994 which elevated the remaining 34 New South Wales matches played against international opposition in the 1920-28 period to Test status (the five 1927/28 Waratahs’ internationals were given Test status in 1986). The 17-0 victory that day was just the second time in history that Australia had held New Zealand scoreless in a Test. The 17-point winning margin was Australia’s greatest until 1999 and the All Blacks’ largest loss at home ever (N.B. New Zealand do not recognise the fixture as an international. From an NZRU perspective the 5-20 loss to Australia at Wellington in 1964 is the All Blacks’ biggest defeat on home soil).

Awarded a Rhodes scholarship in 1922, Wallace read jurisprudence at New College, Oxford (B.A.,1925) and gained Rugby ‘Blues’ four years running (1922-25). Of Caledonian stock, he was chosen with Ian Smith from Melbourne and two other Oxonian teammates to play for Scotland. The Oxford three-quarter line proved a major strength in the country’s first ever ‘Grand Slam’ in 1925. Following their 14-8 victory over Ireland the press waxed lyrical about the Australian: “Wallace is undoubtedly the most skilful, all-round three-quarter playing today. He is a genius, a veritable artist, and he gave as fine an exhibition as we have seen from anyone this season. The crowd cheered him time after time, and there was hardly a Scottish attack for which he was not mainly responsible. He gained one glorious try, he was nearly in on three other occasions, and associated with George Aitken, he was always a source of considerable anxiety to the Irish defence. Wallace was simply superb.” Wallace played nine Tests for Scotland and was in the winning side on seven occasions.

He returned to Australia in 1926, joined the Glebe-Balmain club, and played in the final two home Tests against New Zealand. In 1927, Wallace was chosen to captain New South Wales, a.k.a. The Waratahs, on their nine-month tour of the British Isles, France and North America. Peter Fenton, in ‘For The Sake Of The Game’ wrote that Wallace “proved to be a magnificent captain. Despite a strained thigh and a broken wrist which limited his appearances early in the tour, he played 21 matches, including the five internationals and scored 11 tries. His experience in England, as well as his own natural ability, tactical brilliance and influence on the younger players were major reasons for the team’s on-field successes.”

Wallace, in a speech on his return, noted: “Every man went into the game wholeheartedly and did his utmost. Australia should be especially proud of the team considering that the Waratahs were picked from nine clubs, while England has 40,000 players to draw from.”

Unfortunately, Wallace broke his ankle in the 1928 Waratahs v Rest of NSW match. Following his recovery, he played one club game and toured the country with Metropolitan before he formally retired. Wallace went on to become both selector and coach for New South Wales and Australia. One of his greatest victories as a coach occurred in 1937, when New South Wales trounced the Springboks 17-6 on a waterlogged Sydney Cricket Ground. A life member (1948) and vice-president of the New South Wales Rugby Union, Wallace was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Wallaby Hall of Fame in 2010.

Wallace’s 1927/28 Waratahs vice-captain Charlie Fox later wrote: “By his death, an era covered by his life-long rugby interest is closed, but he will be remembered by many for his contribution to the remodelling and the rebuilding of the Australian Rugby game."

Highlights

1921 Wallace made his Test debut in the 17-0 win over New Zealand at Lancaster Park.

1926 Upon his return to Australia, Wallace was selected in each of the final two home Tests against the All Blacks.

1927/28 Wallace captained the Waratahs in each of the five Tests against the Home Nations. He scored four tries in those five matches – Ireland (1), Wales (2) and France (1).