Full name | Sydney James Malcolm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 10 December 1902 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Merewether, New South Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 23 July 1987 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 10 st 6 lb (146 lb; 66 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby league career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Position(s) | Half-back | ||
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Senior career | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
1925-1926 | Ipswich St Pauls | () | |
State of Origin | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
1925 | Queensland | 1 | () |
Position(s) | Half-back | ||
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Current team | retired | ||
Senior career | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
Provincial / State sides | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
1927-1934 | New South Wales | 28 | () |
Current local club | retired | ||
National team(s) | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
1927-1934 | Australia | 18 Tests | (6) |
Syd Malcolm (1902–1987) was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative half-back who captained the Wallabies' on seventeen occasions between 1928 and 1933.
Malcolm left Newcastle, New South Wales in his teens to seek work and found it at Ipswich, Queensland as a boilermaker. He played rugby league in 1925-26 with the St Paul's club in Ipswich, achieving representative honours for Queensland in 1925.
His first representative rugby union appearances were on the 1927-28 Waratahs tour of Britain, France and Canada for which Malcolm was one of three half-backs selected along with Wally Meagher and Jack Duncan from Randwick. Meagher started as the preferred Test half and when Malcolm dislocated his shoulder in the match against Oxford University not yet half-way into the tour it looked as though he would have disappointing memories of the trip.
He was side-lined for many matches (ultimately only playing in 11 of the 31 official tour matches) but his capabilities had been noticed. After his shoulder recovery he was selected in the final three Tests against Scotland, England and France. He finished the tour as Australia's number one half-back and returned to Newcastle a hero, but keen to relocate to Sydney to play club rugby there.
Malcolm provided quick service from the scrum base with a fast but not particularly long pass. He was quick to spot and exploit an opening but was most respected for his courage and determination when the going got tough. The Howell reference describes him as "courage personified".