Tony Fisher - Hooker
Wales RLHeritage No | 271 |
Date Of Birth | 28/03/1943 |
Place Of Birth | Swansea |
Clubs | Bradford Bulls, Castleford Tigers, Leeds Rhinos, Swansea |
Honours | Wales RL, Great Britain, Other Nationalities |
Managed | South Africa, Otley, Dewsbury Rams, Doncaster, Keighley Cougars, Bramley |
Tony followed elder brother Idwal north. He originally joined Warrington from Swansea, for whom he made 47 appearances and scored five tries, before moving to Bradford during the summer of 1964 when the newly-reformed Northern were assembling a squad virtually from scratch. After making his Wales debut in 1968 (the first of 16 Welsh caps, one of which was in the famous "Battle of Brisbane" in the 1975 World Championship), he won the first of his 11 Great Britain test caps on tour with the Lions in 1970, in the second test against Australia in the last GB side to win The Ashes against their old rivals. He then played in the third test against the Kangaroos and all three tests in New Zealand. In all he made 12 appearances down under, scoring two tries. He retained his place for the World Cup that followed on the Lions’ return, facing the Kangaroos in the group stage and then again in the decider at Headingley in the notorious ‘battle of Leeds’. On the eve of the World Cup Final, he transferred from Bradford to Leeds for £7,000 and a month later, he won his first medal as Leeds beat St Helens in the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final. He also picked up League Championship and Yorkshire Cup medals before moving to Castleford in 1975 after making 141 appearances for Leeds. In 1978 he moved back to Bradford under Peter Fox who, as the Great Britain coach, dramatically recalled him for the second test against Australia when aged 35. After retiring, he embarked on a coaching career with Bramley, Dewsbury and Keighley, but his most famous coaching success came at Doncaster where he steered them to the top flight in 1994 for the first and only time in their history. He also took charge of South Africa and the Otley rugby union side before retiring back in Swansea.
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