Munro Fraser

‘Money’ Fraser was a hard-scrummaging forward who was considered of the same calibre as Jimmy Clarken. He was one of several New Zealanders who played with the Glebe Club in Sydney in the early 1900s. Other noted New Zealanders at Glebe during that era were Bill Hardcastle, Jimmy Clarken, Larry Wogan and Jim Wyld. Glebe won seven premierships from the inception of the competition in 1900 to 1914 (1900, 1901, 1906, 1907, 1909, 1912 and 1914).

He represented New South Wales eight times between 1909 to 1911, all against Queensland.

He toured the USA and Canada with the Australian team in 1912 at the age of 33.

He was the second oldest player on the team after Jimmy Clarken, who was 37.

He was given the opportunity to play in the first tour match against the Barbarians in San Francisco. He returned the favour to the selectors with tight defence and he chased every loose ball and ultimately scored a try and Australia won 29 to 8. Unfortunately he sustained an injury against the University of California at Berkeley and did not participate for the rest of the tour including the only Test against the USA.

Fraser continued to play for Glebe after the tour, however he did not play any representative rugby. He helped to win the 1914 premiership before retiring from rugby.

Munro Fraser would play six matches for Australia, all on the 1912 tour, but no Tests. He must have been very fortunate to make the tour at his age, particularly considering the fact that he never played for his State against a touring team and this continued when he returned to Australia.