Paul Robert Clauss

Paul Robert Clauss

Clauss posing in Scotland jersey
Full name	Paul Robert Adolph Clauss
Date of birth	(1868-06-22)22 June 1868
Place of birth	Munich, Germany
Date of death	21 April 1945(1945-04-21) (aged 76)
Place of death	Cheltenham, England
School	Loretto School
University	Keble College, Oxford
Rugby union career
Position(s) Three-quarter Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 1891–1895 1891 Scotland British Isles 6 3 (6) (0)

Paul Robert Clauss (22 June 1868 – 21 April 1945) was a German-born rugby union three-quarter who played club rugby for Oxford and Birkenhead Park. Clauss was a member of the first official British Isles tour in 1891 and also represented Scotland on six occasions. He was part of two Triple Crown winning teams for Scotland, and made an impressive international start in the 1891 Championship, scoring in all three Scotland games.

Clauss was born in Munich, but was educated at Loretto School in Scotland. From Loretto he matriculated to Keble College, Oxford and in 1899 he joined the Oxford University team. His most notable game with Oxford was played on 21 February 1889 against the New Zealand Native football team, Oxford winning 6–0. He first faced Cambridge University in the 1899 Varsity Match. Clauss gained three sporting 'Blues' in total playing in the 1889, 1890 and 1891 matches. In the 1891 match, Clauss was Oxford captain, but adopted the wrong tactics to give Cambridge the game. Despite excellent work form the Clauss and the rest of the Oxford three-quarters, the forwards had exhausted themselves through too much tight scrimmaging in the first half of the match, and the Cambridge team won by two tries to nil.

In 1890, Clauss was approached by William Percy Carpmael, an ex-Cambridge player, to join his newly formed touring side the Barbarians. Clauss accepted, and became one of the original members of the team.

While still at Oxford, Clauss was selected to represent the Scotland national team, and made his first appearance in the opening game, against Wales, in the 1891 Home Nations Championship. It was an impressive start for Clauss' international career, scoring two tries in a massive 15–0 win over the Welsh. Clauss kept his place for the remaining two games of the tournament, and continued his scoring streak with another try in the second game of the campaign, this time against Ireland. In the final game of the Championship, Clauss scored a dropped goal eight minutes from the start, and Scotland never gave away the lead for the rest of the match. With the victory over England, Clauss became a Triple Crown winning player in his first international season.