Bradford Thomas Burke

Brad Burke was one of a long line of excellent Randwick scrum halves. He was said to have been the club's best scrum half since the great Ken Catchpole. For a No.9 there was no higher praise. A brilliant player, Burke was nippy at the scrum base, quick off the mark and a tigerish tackler. Born in Sydney and educated at Waverley College, Burke came from strong sporting stock. His father Peter, also a halfback, represented Australia in rugby league and his younger brother Matthew (Wallaby #646) played 23 Tests for his country.

Burke served a long apprenticeship behind Nick Farr-Jones before he finally made his debut for New South Wales in 1986, against Wellington at Athletic Park. In 1988 he played three games against New Zealand - for Randwick (9-25) at Coogee Oval, Australia 'B' (4-28) and NSW 'B' (9-45). Burke’s efforts in those contests were rewarded when he was selected for the end-of-season Wallaby tour to the U.K. and Italy. In the eighth game of that tour Burke captained Australia to a 25-19 win over Edinburgh. Ten days later Farr-Jones was injured in the final minutes of the Test against Scotland and Burke came on as a replacement to make his Test debut at Murrayfield. Brad Burke played one Test for Australia and will forever be Wallaby #675.

Highlights

1981

Represented Australian Schools against Ireland Schools, Scotland Schools and Welsh Youth.

1988

Represented Australia at the Hong Kong 7s. Burke won his first Test cap off the bench when he replaced Nick Farr-Jones at halfback in the 32-13 victory over Scotland in Edinburgh.

1989

Represented Australia at the Hong Kong 7s.