Reg Gasnier
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Gasnier in action
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 1939 | |
| Place of birth | Kogarah, Australia | |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) | |
| Nickname | Puff the Magic Dragon | |
| Position | Centre | |
| Professional clubs* | ||
| 1959 - 1967 | St. George | 129 (127) |
| National team | ||
| 1959 - 1968 | Australia | 36 (26) |
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* Professional club appearances and (tries) |
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Reginald William Gasnier AM (born 1939 in Kogarah, New South Wales) is a former Australian rugby league a centre for the St. George Dragons from 1959 to 1967. He represented for Australia in 36 Tests and 3 World Cup games and was the Captain of the national side on 8 occasions between 1962 and 1967.
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[edit] Childhood and early career
Gasnier was born and raised in the southern Sydney suburb of Kogarah. At Kogarah Intermediate High School Gasnier began to hone his natural sporting ability playing rugby, cricket, baseball and athletics. Reg Gasnier later attended the St. George Sydney Technical High School becoming a champion schoolboy sportsman in both rugby and cricket.
He was selected at age 13 in a New South Wales Schoolboy side in a curtain raiser to the 1952 Australia and New Zealand Test.
[edit] St. George Dragons
In 1957 at the age of eighteen Gasnier was forced to choose which sport to focus on having already achieved junior state representative honours in both cricket and rugby league.
He signed on to play for the St. George Dragons, his local rugby league club for the start of the 1958 season. His talents had been noticed while he was playing for junior club Renown United. His rise through the game was meteoric, after only six games in third grade he was selected for his first grade debut and after only five first grade games he was selected for New South Wales. By 1959 Gasnier had become an established member of both the New South Wales state side and the Australian international team. He was a vital member of the all-conquering Dragons team of the later 1950s and early 1960s that successfully won 11 successive premiership victories. Gasnier himself enjoyed seven of those premiership victories
Gasnier has been described as the ultimate all round rugby league player, possessing speed and a beautiful running style, good hands, a superb change of pace and great anticipation along with being a sound defender. He was dubbed 'Puff the Magic Dragon' by Dragons fans because of this. He finished his career with the Dragons in 1967 with 127 tries and 20 goals in only 131 appearances.
Upon his retirement the then ARL chairman Bill Buckley was quoted, "On his day, he was the greatest rugby league player I have ever seen. Gasnier had an amazing change of pace and great anticipation. He was also particularly unselfish. He was without peer."
[edit] Australia
Gasnier made his international debut for Australia against New Zealand in the 1st Test on 1959 in Sydney and played in all three Tests of that series.
At the end of the 1959 season Gasnier toured England with the Kangaroos a highlight being his three tries in the 1st Test against Great Britain at Swinton.
He became Australia's youngest ever captain in 1962 when he led Australia against England aged 23 years and 28 days, he also toured Europe on another two occasions in 1963 and 1967, the latter also as captain.
Gasnier's career was unfortunately ended on the 1967 European tour when in a minor game against a French provincial team he sustained a cruciate injury and never played competitively again, he was only 28 years old. His international career finished with thirty-six test caps for Australia scoring twenty-six tries and captaining the side on eight occasions. Today he reamin twelfth on the all-time scorers list for Australia.
[edit] Retirement
After retirement in 1967 Gasnier was involved in the media side of rugby league, writing about and becoming involved in broadcasting the game and showing that not only did he play the game beautifully but knew the detailed ins and outs of it.
Since retirement he has been awarded a variety of honours. In December 1985 he was inducted into the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame.In 2002 when he was officially inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame. In 1985 he was selected as one of the initial four post-war “Immortals” of the Australian game with Churchill, Raper and Fulton.
He is the uncle of current St George Illawarra Dragons and Australian international Mark Gasnier.
[edit] Career playing statistics
[edit] Point scoring summary
| Games | Tries | Goals | F/G | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 129 | 127 | 20 | - | 421 |
[edit] Matches played
| Team | Matches | Years |
|---|---|---|
| St. George Dragons | 129 | 1959 - 1967 |
| New South Wales | 16 | 1959 - 1965, 1967 |
| Australia | 36 | 1959 - 1965, 1967 - 1968 |
[edit] External links
- Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame
- Jubilee Avenue Dragons Legends
- Reg Gasnier Legends profile
- Rugby league 1908 Reg Gasnier profile
[edit] References
- "Reg Gasnier History", www.bestlegenz.com.au, retrieved June 15, 2006
- "Rugby League 1908: Reg Gasnier" by Sean Fagan, RL1908, retrieved June 15, 2006
- "Gasnier inducted into Australia Hall of Fame" by Brad Walter April 19, 2004, Sport Australia Hall of Fame, retrieved June 15, 2006
