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John Anthony Eales AM (born 27 June 1970) is an Australian former rugby union player and the most successful captain in the history of Australian rugby. In 1999, he became one of the first players to win multiple Rugby World Cups.

Early life

Eales went to school at Marist College Ashgrove, in Ashgrove. In his youth, Eales was a cricket all-rounder and played first grade cricket for Queensland University in the Brisbane QCA cricket competition. Eales completed a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in psychology from the University of Queensland in 1991 prior to taking to the international rugby stage.

Rugby career

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

Eales' 55-cap time as captain marked an era of Australian success in world rugby. Eales played a part in Australia's victories at the Rugby World Cup, first in 1991, and later in 1999. He took over the captaincy from Phil Kearns.

Statistics

Eales scored 173 points for Australia – 2 tries (one valued at 4, one at 5), 34 penalties and 31 conversions – a total which, as of April 2013, places him 12th on the all-time scoring list for Australia. 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 (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 Checchinato's, Charvis's and McCaw's points have come from tries).

Eales captained Australia on 60 occasions, 55 times in Test matches, making him the second most capped Wallaby captain after George Gregan (59). As of 2017, he is ranked seventh in games played as international captain. As of 2017, Eales' 86 caps make him the fourth most capped forward in Australia's Test rugby history, and joint 9th on the overall list.

Eales played 20 Tests against the All Blacks, winning 11 and losing 9. Of those 20 Tests, he captained the Wallabies 11 times, 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. 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.

He is one of a select group to have won the Rugby World Cup twice.

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.

Post-playing career

Business

Eales was a founder of the Mettle Group and his personal company the JohnEales5. He is also a director of Flight Centre Travel Group and Magellan Financial Group and has been a columnist for The Australian newspaper. He is also engaged as a consultant for Westpac. He is also a non-executive director at Fuji Xerox.

Sport ambassador, mentor and boards

Eales acted as a "rugby ambassador" at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, which involved a number of media duties and fulfilled the role as an Athlete Liaison Officer for the Australian Olympic Committee in the Athens, Beijing and 2012 London Olympics.

He is also an Ambassador for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, Hearts in Union and the Melanoma Institute Australia.

Together with Bond University, he presents the annual John Eales Rugby Excellence Scholarship which includes one-on-one mentoring with Eales.

Author

Eales has written two books, Learning From Legends, Sport, and a Business version.

Academia

Eales is an occasional lecturer at University of Notre Dame.

Personal life

Politically, Eales supported Australia's becoming a republic in the runup to the 1999 Australian republic referendum.

Eales' son, Elijah Eales, plays for the Mosman Cricket Club in Sydney Grade Cricket.

Honours

• Eales was named the 2002 Queenslander of the Year.
• The annual award for the best Australian rugby union player is known as The John Eales Medal, John Eales Medal.
• In 1999 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to the community and rugby.
• On 30 August 2000, he was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australian Rugby.
• In 2001, he was inducted into the Australian Institute of Sport 'Best of the Best'.
• Eales was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2003.
• In 2007, he was inducted into the International Rugby Board Hall of Fame.
• Eales was inducted to the Wallaby Hall of Fame in 2011.
• Eales was awarded Legend status in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2020.

References

1. "2001 Australian Wallabies squad — British & Irish Lions Tour". rugby.com.au. Australian Rugby Union. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
2. ^ "2007 Inductee: John Eales". irb.com. 1 December 2007. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
3. ^ National Association of Australian University Colleges Inc Archived 10 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
4. ^ "Computershare – Communication Services". Qmtechnologies.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
5. "School Building Names" (PDF). St William's School Grovely. Retrieved 27 October 2017. John Eales Oval – Past student and ex- Australian Wallaby Captain
6. "Statsguru/John Eales/Test matches". ESPNscrum. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013.
7. ^ "Statsguru/Test matches/Australia". ESPNscrum. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013.
8. ^ "Statsguru/Test matches/Forwards". ESPNscrum. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013.
9. "Statsguru/Test matches/Captains". ESPNscrum. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
10. "14 All Blacks join the exclusive two-time World Cup winners' club". The Independent. 1 November 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
11. Advance.org (2009). Mr John Eales, AM. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
12. "John Eales on Connecting Sports Leadership and Business Success". Retrieved 28 April 2022.
13. "From the touchline – Put your house on Pumas (not mine)". Rugbyworldcup.com. 11 October 2007. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
14. Conomos, Taya (27 March 2012). "ALO Column: John Eales". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
15. "AIEF Ambassadors – John Eales AM". Australian Indigenous Education Foundation. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
16. "John Eales Rugby Excellence Scholarship". Bond University. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
17. Eales, John (2006), Learning from legends / John Eales, Fairfax Books, ISBN 9781921190469
18. Eales, John (2008), Learning from legends. Business / John Eales, Fairfax Books, ISBN 9781921190759
19. "Board profiles". Archived from the original on 16 August 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
20. "BBC News | Rugby World Cup | Rugby comes first on 'Republican Day'".
21. Tom Decent (9 February 2018). "John Eales' son Elijah to make NSW Premier Cricket first grade debut". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
22. Australian Institute of Sport 'Best of the Best' Archived 17 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine
23. "John Eales". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
24. "Queensland's Paul McLean inducted into Wallaby Hall of Fame". redsrugby.com.au. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
25. Colangelo, Anthony (4 December 2020). "Women's T20 side, Eales claim top honours at Sport Australia awards". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 December 2020.

Further reading

• FitzSimons, Peter (2002), John Eales : the biography / Peter FitzSimons, ABC Books for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ISBN 9780733311550, retrieved 27 October 2017

External links

• Sporting Heroes Profile
• "The Goal is Success" – Guest editor MyCareer Sydney Morning Herald 11 November 2006
• John Eales at the World Rugby Hall of Fame

• 1970 births
• Australia international rugby union players
• Australian Institute of Sport rugby union players
• Australia national rugby union team captains
• Brothers Old Boys players
• World Rugby Awards winners
• World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees
• Living people
• Members of the Order of Australia
• Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees
• Queensland Reds players
• Rugby union locks
• University of Queensland alumni
• Rugby union players from Brisbane
• 1991 Rugby World Cup players
• 1995 Rugby World Cup players
• 1999 Rugby World Cup players
• People educated at Marist College Ashgrove
• Australian rugby union players