Manuel Howard Michael Edmonds
- 47Age
- 2Caps
- 748Wallaby Number
Biography
A New Zealand-born fly-half of Maori ancestry Manny Edmonds came from good rugby stock but like many talented fly-halves of his generation his path to national honours was complicated by the presence of the great Stephen Larkham.
Edmonds' mum Maxine played for the Mid-Canterbury women’s representative team, brother Huia was Wallaby #837 while his uncle, Huia Gordon, played for the New Zealand Maori and the “Emerging All Blacks”. When the family left New Zealand they moved to Mackay, Queensland before settling in Canberra.
Manny completed his schooling at Erindale College from where he was selected for Australian Schools in 1994 and again in 1995. Over the following three years Edmonds represented Australia at both U19 and U21 levels.
In 1997 he made his debut for the New South Wales Waratahs against Queensland and the following year played his maiden Test for Australia in odd circumstances. Based on the fact that the Wallabies were knocked out of the 1995 Rugby World Cup at the quarter-final stage they were required to qualify for the 1999 tournament. That saw the Wallabies scheduled to play three Test matches in eight days against Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. Edmonds made his Test debut in the second of those qualifiers, against Tonga in Canberra.
Unfortunately he was not selected for the Rugby World Cup and then waited the best part of three years to earn a second and final cap.
Highlights
1994
Represented Australian Schools against Wales Schools
1994/5
Represented Australian Schools on their tour to the U.K. and Europe where he started at No.10 against Ireland Schools, Scotland Schools, France Schools and England Schools.
1996
Represented Australian U19s
1997
Represented Australian U21s when they won the Southern Hemisphere tournament.
1998
Represented Australian U21s. Edmonds made his Test debut as the starting No.10 in the 74-0 triumph over Tonga in Canberra. He scored 20 points (2T, 5C) which, at the time, was the second highest tally for a debutante in Wallaby history. Edmonds also became the 78th Wallaby to score a Test try on debut.
2001
