Wallabies legend Ken Catchpole dies aged 78 after long illness
WALLABIES legend Ken Catchpole, revered as one of Australian rugby’s greatest players, has died aged 78 after a long battle with illness.
IT was sixty years ago that one Randwick Rugby club legend pulled another myrtle green icon aside at training and asked for a favour.
Wally Meagher, then the president of the Galloping Greens, wanted Cyril Towers to go check out a promising teenager from Coogee who’d won a scholarship to Scots.
Now both Wallabies Hall-of-Famers, what Meagher and Towers didn’t know about rugby could fit on a napkin.
As Bob Dwyer tells the story, Towers asked: “So you think he’s good?”.
“Wally replied: “I think he could become the greatest scrum-half the game has ever seen,” Dwyer said.
The youngster was Ken Catchpole and, for many, Meagher’s prediction ended up being spot on. Within a mere three years, Catchpole was not only a Wallaby but Australian captain as well.
A sombre week got even sadder in Australian rugby on Thursday when Catchpole passed away, aged 78, following a long
illness.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/sport/rugby/w...1ead0e5ebbb126
