Robert Dowling Marrott

Bob Marrott was one of those players who can be regarded as unlucky or lucky, depending on one’s point of view. He was unlucky in that he was just reaching his athletic prime when war broke out but was fortunate enough to survive it intact and had a brief international career immediately after the cessation of hostilities. His only matches were two against a very strong New Zealand side that toured in 1920 and returned home unbeaten, despite a solid effort in each of the three matches by New South Wales (no Australian team was picked this year, as rugby union was not operating anywhere outside the New South Wales borders. These matches were later raised to Test status in 1986).

Marrott made his debut in the first match of the series and performed well enough, although he was one of three players to lose their places after the loss. Relegated to the ranks of the Metropolitan Union team for the match the following Monday, Marrott gave a strong display that secured his return to the top side for the final match of the series. Although picked out by almost every critic as the Waratahs’ best forward in that match – he scored one of the three tries that went to the home side and was conspicuous in general play – he played no further top-level rugby after the 1920 season. In 1922-23 the family name was again to the fore as Bill, his younger brother by six years, played seven tests.