John Eales

This article is about the Australian rugby union player. For the British lawyer and politician, see John Frederick Eales. For the Australian politician, see John Eales (Australian politician).
John Eales
Date of birth (1970-06-27) 27 June 1970
Place of birth Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Height 200 cm (6 ft 7 in)[1]
Weight 119 kg (18 st 10 lb)
School Marist College Ashgrove
University University of Queensland
Occupation(s) Director and founder Mettle Group
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position Lock, Number 8
Amateur clubs
Years Club / team
1989–96 Brothers Rugby Club
correct as of 7 August 2001.
Provincial/State sides
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1990–2001 Queensland Reds 112
correct as of 7 August 2006.
Super Rugby
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1996–2001 Queensland Reds (402)
Current local club Retired
correct as of 7 August 2006.
National team(s)
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1991–2001 Australia 86 (173)
correct as of 7 August 2006.

John Eales AM (born 27 June 1970) is an Australian former rugby union player and the most successful captain in the history of Australian rugby. He became one of only twenty dual Rugby World Cup winners.

Early life

Whilst John Eales was at school, John went to Marist College, in Ashgrove. In his youth, Eales was also a very talented cricket all-rounder, and played first grade cricket for Queensland University in the Brisbane QCA cricket competition.[2] Eales completed a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in psychology from the University of Queensland in 1991[3][4] prior to taking to the international rugby stage. His primary school was St William's School Grovelly in Brisbane.

Rugby career

Eales played lock for Queensland Reds and Australia. He was given the nickname "Nobody" because "Nobody's perfect".[2]

Eales' 55-cap reign as captain marked an era of Australian success in world rugby. Eales played a major part in Australia's victories at the Rugby World Cup twice in his illustrious career, first in 1991, and later skippering his country to victory in 1999.[2] he took over the captaincy from Rod McCall who replaced Phil Kearns after playing 31 tests.

Statistics

John Eales scored 173 points for Australia – 2 tries (one valued at 4, one at 5), 34 penalties & 31 conversions[5] – a total which, as of April 2013, places him 12th on the all-time scoring list for Australia.[6] He is the highest scoring forward in test rugby history and, as of November 2015, only one of seven forwards to have surpassed 100 points in test rugby[7] (the others being Richie McCaw, Jean Prat, Takashi Kikutani, Colin Charvis, Mamuka Gorgodze and Carlo Checchinato). This is largely because of his goal kicking, which is unusual for a forward; his two tries are unremarkable (in comparison, all of Checcinato's, Charvis's and McCaw's points have come from tries).[7] His memorable kicks include a sideline penalty goal in the final minutes of a 2000 test to win the Bledisloe Cup against New Zealand.

Eales captained Australia on 60 occasions, 55 times in Test matches. Only Brian O'Driscoll, John Smit, Richie McCaw, Will Carling and George Gregan have been an international captain in more games than Eales.[8] As of April 2013, Eales' 86 caps make him the third most capped forward in Australia's test rugby history,[6] being recently surpassed by George Smith and Nathan Sharpe, and joint 7th on the overall list (level with Joe Roff, with George Gregan, Nathan Sharpe, George Smith, Stephen Larkham, David Campese and Matt Giteau ahead of him).[6]

Eales played 20 tests against the All Blacks winning 11 and losing 9. Of those 20 tests he captained the Wallabies in 11 tests against the All Blacks, winning 6 and losing 5. Eales is one of only 21 players to have represented the Queensland Reds in 100 or more state games. He represented his state in 112 games.[2] He scored a total of 402 points in the Super 12 competition with 6 tries, 66 conversions and 80 penalties for the Queensland Reds. No forward has scored more points than him in the competition's history.[2]

He is one of a select group to have won the Rugby World Cup twice.[2] The others are fellow Wallabies Dan Crowley, Jason Little, Phil Kearns and Tim Horan, plus South Africa's Os du Randt; and New Zealand All Blacks Keven Mealamu, Ben Franks, Owen Franks, Tony Woodcock, Sam Whitelock, Jerome Kaino, Richie McCaw, Kieran Read, Victor Vito, Dan Carter, Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith, Sonny Bill Williams, and Colin Slade.[9]

He retired as the most-capped lock of all time, with 84 test appearances in that position (his other two tests were as a number eight). Eales has since been surpassed in caps as a lock by several players.[2]

Post rugby career

Business

Eales was a founder of the Mettle Group (a culture and leadership consultancy, which is now part of Chandler Macleod), and his personal company the JohnEales5 (now part of International Quarterback, a sports marketing and events company).[10] He is also a director of Flight Centre and GRM International, and a columnist for The Australian newspaper. He is also engaged as a consultant for Westpac.[3][4]

John is also an Ambassador of Bonville Golf Resort and a guest lecturer at the University of Notre Dame. He is also a director on the board of the Australian Rugby Union.

John has fulfilled the role as an Athlete Liaison Office for the Australian Olympic Committee in the Athens, Beijing and London Olympics.

John Eales is also an Ambassador for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation.

Media

Eales acted as a "rugby ambassador" at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, which involved a number of media duties.[11]

Author

Eales has written 2 books, 'Learning From Legends', a Sport and a Business version. LFL Sports has a foreword by former Australian Prime Minister John Howard and talks about different legends of Australian Sport including Peter Brock and Grant Hackett. LFL Business talks about different legends within the business world and the lessons that can be learned from them.

Honours

References

  1. ↑ "2001 Australian Wallabies squad — British & Irish Lions Tour". rugby.com.au. Australian Rugby Union. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "2007 Inductee: John Eales". irb.com. 1 December 2007. Archived from the original on 8 April 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 National Association of Australian University Colleges Inc Archived 10 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. 1 2 "Computershare – Communication Services". Qmtechnologies.com. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  5. ↑ "Statsguru/John Eales/Test matches". espnscrum.com. Archived from the original on 8 April 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 "Statsguru/Test matches/Australia". espnscrum.com. Archived from the original on 8 April 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Statsguru/Test matches/Forwards". espnscrum.com. Archived from the original on 8 April 2013.
  8. ↑ "Statsguru/Test matches/Captains". espnscrum.com. Archived from the original on 8 April 2013.
  9. ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/international/rwc-2015-14-all-blacks-including-richie-mccaw-and-dan-carter-join-exclusive-two-time-world-cup-a6716671.html#gallery
  10. ↑ Advance.org (2009). Mr John Eales, AM. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
  11. ↑ "From the touchline – Put your house on Pumas (not mine)". Rugbyworldcup.com. 11 October 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  12. ↑ Australian Institute of Sport 'Best of the Best'
  13. ↑ "John Eales AM". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  14. ↑ "Queensland's Paul McLean inducted into Wallaby Hall of Fame". redsrugby.com.au. Retrieved 14 October 2013.

External links

Rugby Union Captain
Preceded by
Rod McCall		 Australia rugby union captains
1996–2001 		Succeeded by
Tim Horan
Preceded by
Francois Pienaar
(South Africa)		 IRB World Cup
winning captain
1999 		Succeeded by
Martin Johnson
(England)
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