Roger George Gould

Roger Gould was arguably the best Australian fullback of all-time. At 1.93m and 95kgs he strode the rugby field like a veritable colossus. Gould was strong, safe and although he didn’t give the appearance of being fast, his long, loping stride deceived many defenders. He was cool, calm and rarely flustered, and he had a stupendous right boot that sent his punts towering downfield to the oohs and the aahs of the spectators. Gould was a complete, albeit injury-plagued, custodian.

Born and bred in Brisbane, Gould attended Brisbane Boys’ College, where he played both Australian Rules and union. Gould represented Queensland U19s and in 1978, aged just 20, made his debut for Queensland against British Columbia in Vancouver.

Gould then won selection on the Wallaby tour to New Zealand behind No.1 fullback Laurie Monaghan however what was thought at the time to be a torn hamstring limited his total tour playing time to a meagre 17 minutes. A year later he toured Argentina as the only specialist fullback however injury again limited his opportunities. Finally in 1980 and without question Australia’s leading fullback, Gould made his Test debut against New Zealand in Sydney.

Two years later the Wallabies had a new coach, Bob Dwyer, who controversially axed Gould and Paul McLean, two of Queensland’s favourite sons, and selected Glen and Mark Ella for the 1st Test against Scotland at Ballymore. Scotland won 12-7 however the two Queenslanders returned for the 2nd Test, scored 29 points between them, and Australia triumphed 33-9. 1984 was the pinnacle of Gould’s career as he played all four Tests for The Eighth Wallabies, the first team in Australian history to win the Grand Slam against the Home Nations.

Roger Gould played 25 Tests for Australia in an eight-year international career.

Highlights

1979

Represented Australia at the Hong Kong 7s.

1980

Gould won his first Test cap at fullback in the 1st Test, 13-9 victory over New Zealand at the S.C.G. He remained at No.15 for both the 2nd and 3rd Tests of that Bledisloe Cup series.

1981

Represented Australia at the Hong Kong 7s.

1981/82

He missed the home series against France due to the recurrence of a back injury but returned to win a place on the Seventh Wallabies tour to the U.K. Gould started at fullback against Ireland, Wales and Scotland before Paul McLean was chosen at No.15 for the final international against England.

1982

Gould was recalled for the 2nd Test against Scotland in Sydney, where he scored his first Test tries, and then started all three Tests of the Bledisloe Cup series.

1983

He earned caps in the opening two Tests of the year - against the U.S.A and the 1st Test loss to Argentina - but missed the rest of the season due to a recurring thigh injury.

1984

Gould did not tour Fiji however he returned to start at No.15 in the three Bledisloe Cup Tests and in all four wins on the Grand Slam tour of the U.K. and Ireland.

1985

Gould earned a single cap in the 9-10, one-off Bledisloe Cup loss in Auckland. He missed the series against Canada after he suffered rib damage. Gould was also unavailable for the Tests with Fiji due to groin injury.

1986

He started the first Test of the season against Italy but did not play another international due to the recurrence of his groin injury.

1987

In his final year of international rugby Gould was selected in the Wallaby squad for the inaugural Rugby World Cup. He won caps in the warm-up match against South Korea and in the opening pool game against England before yet another groin injury ruled him out for the remainder of the tournament.