Cyril Towers - National Captain

National Captain

Great Britain toured Australia in 1930 and Towers played against them in four matches for state and country. Then in 1931 he was a senior in the full Australian side sent to New Zealand with Syd Malcolm as captain. They won three, drew one and lost six matches including the single Test but Towers played in nine matches, was the tour's top try-scorer and was honoured for the first time with the national captaincy in a minor match against Seddon Shield Districts.

In 1933, Towers was left out of the squad that made Australia's first ever rugby tour of South Africa. It was a controversial omission made by team manager Dr Wally Mathews because of Towers' forthrightness and perceived disruptiveness. Still he had further representative appearances ahead of him. In 1934 he played in the two match series against the All Blacks in which the Wallabies wrestled away the Bledisloe Cup for the first time. Then in 1937 perhaps his finest hour, as Australia's Test captain in the 9-5 defeat against the touring Springboks then hailed as the finest side in the world, in which game Towers scored all of Australia's points and inspired the defence to hold out the Boks onslaught.

He retired in 1940 after having again been left out of the 1939 Wallaby side - a blessing since the team travelled to the other side of the world but did not play a match due to the outbreak of World War II. He had played 57 matches for Australia, 19 of them Tests, 2 of those as captain.