| Born | William Robert Hardcastle[1] (1874-08-30)30 August 1874[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Died | 11 July 1944(1944-07-11) (aged 69)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Petone High | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rugby league career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Second rower | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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William Robert Hardcastle (30 August 1874 – 11 July 1944) born inWellington, New Zealand was a pioneer New Zealand and Australianrugby union player and an Australianrugby league footballer.[2][3] He represented both countries in union andAustralia in league. He was one of the firstdual-code rugby internationals.
Hardcastle commenced his club rugby in New Zealand withPetone and represented forWellington from 1895 to 1897.[4] He joined the Melrose club in 1897 and was selected in aNorth Island representative side from where he was selected for theAll Blacks 1897 tour of Australia he played in seven tour matches but no Tests. He journeyed to Sydney in 1899 on hearing that the visitingBritish and Irish Lions would be not be travelling any further than Sydney. Australian rugby in those days had no residential rules and once they took the field with a Sydney club, players qualified as Australians for possible national selection.
He played for the Glebe rugby union club in Sydney from where he was chosen to play asflanker for theAustralian representative team in the fourth test of 1899 againstthe first British side to tour Australia, at Sydney, on 12 August. He also played for Australia in 1903 in Sydney against New Zealand in the first official rugby union international between the countries.[5]
He became an early convert to the fledgling league code and played for the Ipswich club in Queensland. He was selected in the 2nd Test of 1908 againstNew Zealand. Five former Wallabies had debuted for the Kangaroos in the inaugural Test three weeks earlier, Hardcastle's league Test debut that day withGeorge Watson made them the 6th and 7th Australian dual code internationals. He also played in the 3rd Test a week later.
Hardcastle toured with the pioneer 1908Kangaroos and played for Australia on six occasions though he did not play in the Tests. On his return from the tour he joined theGlebe Dirty Reds in Sydney where he played the next two seasons before retirement.
Hardcastle served with theAustralian Imperial Force in World War I. He was a Private in the 3rd Infantry Battalion seeing active service as a machine gunner. He embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on boardHMAT A55 Kyarra on 3 June 1916 at age 42. He survived the war and was demobilised in the weeks immediately after thearmistice.
Hardcastle died inRandwick, New South Wales on 11 July 1944. He was buried atBotany Cemetery on 13 July 1944.[6]
