Robin Thompson

Robin Thompson (1931–2003) was a rugby union international for Ireland and a former British and Irish Lions captain.

Robin Thompson won two Ulster Schools Senior Cup medals with RBAI (Royal Belfast Academical Institution) and played for Ulster Schools. He made the Queen's University RFC senior side in his first year in the University and while still only 18, he made his Ulster debut.

He won his first international cap in the second row as a 20-year-old against France in Paris in December 1951. He was also on the team that defeated France in Paris in January 1952. He played throughout the championship and against New Zealand in 1953-54 and the following season captained Ireland against both France and Wales. He was capped 11 times. He won the Ulster Senior League with Queen's University, the Ulster Senior Cup with Instonians and also played for London Irish and the Barbarians.

He was made captain of the 1955 British Lions tour to South Africa. He played in three of the four tests on that tour.

Following the tour he turned professional and played rugby league for Warrington. But an injury and subsequent medical advice brought an end to his playing career while still only 25. After returning to Ireland, he subsequently became a media analyst.

External links

BBC Obituary

British and Irish Lions – 1955 South Africa tour

Forwards	Elliot Greenwood Higgins McLeod B. Meredith C. Meredith Michie Reid Robins Roe Clem Thomas Thompson (c) Rhys Williams Billy Williams Wilson

Backs	Baker Butterfield Cameron Davies Griffiths Jeeps Lloyd Morgan Morris O'Reilly Pedlow Quinn Smith Sykes Alun Thomas Johnny Williams

Coach	Manager: J. A. E. Siggins * Assistant Manager/Coach: D. E. Davies

Ireland national rugby union team captains

To 1900	Feb 1875: G.H. Stack Dec 1875: R.J. Bell Feb 1877: R. Galbraith Feb 1877: W.H. Wilson Mar 1878: R.B. Walkington 1879: W.C. Neville 1880: H.C. Kelly 1881-Jan 1882: A.J. Forrest Feb 1882: J.W. Taylor 1883: G. Scriven Feb 1884: J.A. McDonald Mar 1884: D.F. Moore Feb 1885: W.G. Rutherford Mar 1885: A.J. Forrest Feb 1886: M. Johnston Feb 1886: J.P. Ross 1887: R.G. Warren Feb–Mar 1888: H.J. Neill Dec 1888–90: R.G. Warren Feb–Mar 1891: Dolway Walkington Mar 1891: R. Stevenson 1892: Victor Le Fanu 1893: S. Lee 1894: E.G. Forrest Feb 1895: J.H. O'Conor Mar 1895: C.V. Rooke Mar 1895: E.G. Forrest 1896: S. Lee 1897: E.G. Forrest Feb 1898: S. Lee Feb 1898: G.G. Allen Mar 1898: W. Gardiner 1899–1900: Louis Magee

To the First World War	1901: Louis Magee Feb 1902: J. Fulton Mar 1902: Louis Magee 1903–Feb 1904: Harry Corley Mar 1904–06: C.E. Allen Feb 1906: Alfred Tedford Feb 1906–07: C.E. Allen Feb 1908: Harry Thrift Feb–Mar 1908: James Parke Feb 1909: Fred Gardiner Mar 1909: George Hamlet Mar 1909: Fred Gardiner Feb 1910: George Hamlet Mar 1910: Tom Smyth Mar 1910–11: George Hamlet Jan 1912: Dickie Lloyd Feb 1912: Alexander Foster Feb 1912–Feb 1914: Dickie Lloyd Feb–Mar 1914: Alexander Foster

To the Second World War	Feb 1920: Dickie Lloyd Feb 1920: George Doherty Mar 1920: Thomas Wallace Apr 1920: Dickie Lloyd 1921: George Doherty Feb 1922: William Collopy Apr 1922–23: John Thompson Jan–Feb 1924: William Crawford Feb 1924: William Collopy Mar 1924–27: William Crawford 1928–Feb 1929: George Stephenson Feb 1929: Eugene Davy Mar 1929–30: George Stephenson 1931: Mark Sugden 1932: George Beamish Feb 1933: Eugene Davy Mar 1932: George Beamish Apr 1933: Eugene Davy 1934–36: Jack Siggins 1937–Feb 1938: George Morgan Mar 1938: Sam Walker 1939: George Morgan

To the Professional Era	Jan–Feb 1947: Con Murphy Feb–Mar 1947: Jack Monteith Dec 1947–Jan 1948: Ernest Strathdee Feb 1948–Mar 1951: Karl Mullen Dec 1951–Sep 1952: Des O'Brien Jan 1953–Jan 1954: Jack Kyle Feb–Mar 1954: Jim McCarthy Jan 1955: Robin Thompson Feb 1955: Jim McCarthy Feb–Mar 1955: Robin Thompson Jan–Feb 1956: James Ritchie Feb 1956–Apr 1958: Noel Henderson Feb–Apr 1959: Ronnie Dawson Feb–Mar 1960: Andy Mulligan Apr 1960–May 1961: Ronnie Dawson Feb–Nov 1962: Bill Mulcahy Jan 1963: Tom Kiernan Feb–Mar 1963: Bill Mulcahy Dec 1963: James Kelly Feb–Mar 1964: Bill Mulcahy Jan 1965–Feb 1966: Ray McLoughlin Mar 1966: Tom Kiernan Jan–Apr 1967: Noel Murphy May 1967–Jan 1971: Tom Kiernan Feb–Mar 1971: Mike Gibson Jan 1972–Feb 1973: Tom Kiernan Mar 1973–Mar 1975: Willie John McBride Jan–Feb 1976: Mike Gibson Feb 1976–Mar 1977: Tom Grace Jan–Mar 1978: John Moloney Nov 1978–Nov 1981: Fergus Slattery Jan 1982–Feb 1984: Ciaran Fitzgerald Feb–Mar 1984: Willie Duggan Nov 1984–Mar 1986: Ciaran Fitzgerald Nov 1986–Apr 1988: Donal Lenihan Oct 1988–Mar 1989: Phillip Matthews Nov 1989–Feb 1990: Willie Anderson Mar–Oct 1990: Donal Lenihan Feb–Mar 1991: Rob Saunders July 1991: Phillip Matthews July 1991: Rob Saunders Oct 1991–Feb 1992: Phillip Matthews Oct 1991: Terry Kingston Mar–May 1992: Phil Danaher Jun 1992: Michael Bradley Oct 1992: Phil Danaher Jan 1993–Nov 1994: Michael Bradley Jan 1995: Brendan Mullin Feb–Mar 1995: Michael Bradley Mar–May 1995: Terry Kingston May 1995: Nick Popplewell Jun 1995: Terry Kingston

To the Present Day	Nov 1995–Feb 1996: Jim Staples Mar–Nov 1996: Niall Hogan Nov 1996–Jan 1997: Keith Wood Feb–Mar 1997: Jim Staples Nov 1997: Keith Wood Nov 1997: Nick Popplewell Dec 1997–Apr 1998: Keith Wood Jun 1998–Apr 1999: Paddy Johns Jun–Oct 1999: Dion O'Cuinneagain 2000–Feb 2001: Keith Wood Jun 2001: Mick Galwey Sep–Oct 2001: Keith Wood Nov 2001: Anthony Foley Nov 2001: Keith Wood Feb–Mar 2002: Mick Galwey Mar 2002: David Humphreys Apr–Jun 2002: Keith Wood Sep 2002: Anthony Foley Sep 2002: Keith Wood Sep 2002: Anthony Foley Nov 2002–Mar 2003: Brian O'Driscoll Jun 2003: David Humphreys Jun 2003: Reggie Corrigan Aug 2003: Keith Wood Aug 2003: Brian O'Driscoll Sep–Nov 2003: Keith Wood Feb 2004: Paul O'Connell Feb 2004– Feb 2005: Brian O'Driscoll Feb 2005: Paul O'Connell Feb–Mar 2005: Brian O'Driscoll Jun 2005: David Humphreys Nov 2005: Simon Easterby Nov 2005: David Humphreys 2006–Feb 2007: Brian O'Driscoll Feb 2007: Paul O'Connell Feb–Mar 2007: Brian O'Driscoll May–Jun 2007: Simon Best Aug 2007: Brian O'Driscoll Aug 2007: Paul O'Connell Sep 2007–Mar 2008: Brian O'Driscoll Mar 2008: Ronan O'Gara Jun 2008–Mar 2009: Brian O'Driscoll May 2009: Rory Best Nov 2009–Mar 2011: Brian O'Driscoll Aug 2011: Leo Cullen Aug 2011: Brian O'Driscoll Aug 2011: Paul O'Connell Sep 2011: Brian O'Driscoll Sep 2011: Leo Cullen Oct 2011: Brian O'Driscoll Feb 2012–Mar 2012: Paul O'Connell Mar 2012: Rory Best Jun 2012: Brian O'Driscoll Nov 2012–Mar 2013: Jamie Heaslip Jun 2013: Peter O'Mahony Nov 2013: Jamie Heaslip Nov 2013: Paul O'Connell Feb 2014: Jamie Heaslip Feb–Nov 2014: Paul O'Connell Nov 2014: Eoin Reddan Nov 2014–Mar 2015: Paul O'Connell Aug 2015: Jamie Heaslip Aug 2015: Seán O'Brien Aug–Sep 2015: Paul O'Connell Sep 2015: Jamie Heaslip Oct 2015: Paul O'Connell Oct 2015: Jamie Heaslip Feb 2016–Nov 2016: Rory Best Nov 2016: Peter O'Mahony Nov 16-: Rory Best

British and Irish Lions team captains

To 1910	Apr-Aug 1888: Robert Seddon ^{Note 1} Aug-Oct 1888: Andrew Stoddart ^{Note 1} 1891: Bill Maclagan 1896: Johnny Hammond Jun 1899: Matthew Mullineux ^{Note 2} Jun-Aug 1899: Frank Stout ^{Note 2} 1903: Mark Morrison Jun-Jul 1904: David Bedell-Sivright^{Note 3} Jul-Aug 1904: Teddy Morgan^{Note 3} 1908: Boxer Harding 1910: John Raphael^{Note 4}

To present	Jun-Jul1910: Tommy Smyth^{Note 5} Aug 1910: Jack Jones^{Note 5} Aug-Sep1910: Tommy Smyth^{Note 5} 1924: Ronald Cove-Smith 1927: David MacMyn 1930: Doug Prentice 1936: Bernard Gadney 1938: Sam Walker 1950: Karl Mullen 1955: Robin Thompson 1959: Ronnie Dawson 1962: Arthur Smith 1966: Mike Campbell-Lamerton 1968: Tom Kiernan 1971: John Dawes 1974: Willie John McBride 1977: Phil Bennett 1980: Bill Beaumont 1983: Ciaran Fitzgerald 1986: Colin Deans 1989: Finlay Calder 1989: Rob Andrew 1993: Gavin Hastings 1997: Martin Johnson 2001: Martin Johnson May-Jun 2005: Brian O'Driscoll^{Note 6} May 2005: Michael Owen^{Note 6} Jun 2005: Martin Corry^{Note 6} Jul 2005: Gareth Thomas^{Note 6} 2009: Paul O'Connell 2013: Sam Warburton

Notes	Note 1: Robert Seddon died on tour after a boating accident, Andrew Stoddart, became captain for the remainder of the tour. Note 2: Matthew Mullineux decided that after losing the first test that he should withdraw from further test matches, handing on field captaincy to Frank Stout, but remained tour captain. Note 3: David Bedell-Sivright was injured during the first test. Teddy Morgan took over captaincy on the field but Bedell-Sivright remained tour captain. Note 4: The team that John Raphael captained was not selected by the four Home Nations governing body, but had been organised by Oxford University and billed as the English Rugby Union team. However, it was denoted as the Combined British team by its Argentine hosts because it also included three Scots. Note 5: Jack Jones captained the first test only, but Tommy Smyth remained the tour captain. Note 6: Michael Owen captained the Lions in the first tour game, the test vs. Argentina in Cardiff. Brian O'Driscoll was injured at the beginning of the first test. Martin Corry and Gareth Thomas took over captaincy on the field but O'Driscoll remained tour captain.

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 2/16/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.