Nathan Patrick Grey

Nathan Grey was a committed, hard-nosed and straight-running inside centre who gave his all for club, state and country.

A consummate professional, Grey played three years of 1st XV (1990-92) for The Southport School, alma mater of Wallaby captains Nathan Sharpe and James Slipper. While he was not selected for Australian Schools Grey did represent at U19 and U21 levels.

In 1997 he debuted for Queensland against New South Wales in Sydney but by the end of the year was on tour with a NSW development squad. Grey was then offered a NSW contract and given the abundance of high quality centres at the Reds - Tim Horan, Jason Little, Dan Herbert and Pat Howard - he joined the Waratahs.

Within seven months of his first Waratahs match he was in the Wallaby squad and won a debut against Scotland in Sydney. Grey was a key part of what was the golden era of Australian rugby.

In 1998 he was in the squad as Australia completed their first ever 3-0 clean sweep of a Test series against New Zealand.

In 1999 he was a member of the World Cup winning squad and in 2001 he started in each match of the historic 2-1 series victory over the British & Irish Lions.

Grey played 35 Tests for Australia, starting in 19, over the course of his six-year international career.

Highlights

1993

Selected in the Australian U19 squad

1994

Represented Australian U19s

1995

Represented Australian U21s

1996

Captained Australian U21s.

1998

Grey won his first Test cap off the bench when he replaced Tim Horan at inside centre in the 33-11, 2nd Test win over Scotland in Brisbane. In that match he scored his first Test try to become the 77th Wallaby to score a try on debut. Grey debuted in the run-on XV at No.12 in the 32-21 victory against France in Paris. He won a total of six caps for the year.

1999

Grey won a career high 12 caps and was left on the bench in the one Test he did not play. He was selected to his first Rugby World Cup where he played in six of the seven matches.

2000

Grey underwent a right knee reconstruction that saw him miss the entire domestic Test season. He was picked for the end-of-season Spring Tour and won two caps, both as a replacement, against Scotland and England.

2001

Grey started the opening 10 Tests of the year at inside centre but missed the year’s final international against Wales in Cardiff.

2003

Grey earned his final five Test caps and he was selected to his second Rugby World Cup.