Hall of Fame
| Sir Nicholas Shehadie | Jean Prat | Jack Kyle | Tommy Lawton |
Ronald Poulton Palmer
When normality returned after the war, the tournament continued without many of its famous figures including England's Grand Slam winning captain Ronald Poulton Palmer who was amongst the 111 international rugby players killed in action during the war. However, despite this set-backs it was England who dominated the inter-war period, sweeping to nine championships including four Grand Slams in 1921, 1923, 1924 and 1928.
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In an international career from 1947 to 1958, Nick Shehadie was the cornerstone of Australia’s rugby union team, a prop and second-rower who matched size and skill with toughness and determination. He played 30 Tests, then an Australian record, and captained Australia, NSW and Randwick. He later became the SCG Trust’s Chairman.
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The first to get to 50 caps was Jean Prat, the legendary French loose forward from the pilgrim town of Lourdes in Southwest France where he ran a bar.
Prat played his first match for France during World War II, when France played the British Army at Parc des Princes. The French regarded that as an official Test.
They counted only matches amongst like chaps - the eight who formed the IRB club for many years - England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
Prat won his 50th cap when he led an unbeaten French side out onto Stade Colombes in search of their first ever Five Nations Championship title and Grand Slam against Wales in March 1955. A then record crowd for a Test in France assembled in the hope of seeing history in the making.
Prat's last match, his 51st, was against Italy on 10 April 1955.
He was honoured in France with the Legion d'Honneur and then inducted into rugby's Hall of Fame in 2001.
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The first man to play in 50 cap internationals against the IRB countries was
the great Jack Kyle of Ireland. He won six caps for the 1950
Lions in New Zealand and Australia to add to his 46 for Ireland between 1947 and
1958.
His 50th international was at Lansdowne Road for Ireland against Australia in
1958, when Ireland defeated a touring side for the first time. Ireland won 9-6.
Kyle played for Ireland between 1947 and 1948. A medical doctor and a man of strong religious convictions, he spent many years in Kenya and was awarded an OBE.
International Hall of Fame 1999
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It was during that period in the twenties that the career of one of the University of Queensland, Queensland and Australia’s greatest players – Tommy Lawton – commenced. The grandfather of former Wallaby hooker, Tom Lawton, he was a sturdy, 180 cm five-eighth, a magnificent handler with an elusive swerve or sidestep and once was described by All Black Captain, Cliff Porter, as the "Loping Ghost". He captained Australia in six tests.
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