{{Short description|Australia international rugby union player}} {{Other people|David Cowper}} {{EngvarB|date=August 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox rugby biography | name = Dave Cowper | image = Dave Cowper.jpg | caption = | birth_name = Denis Lawson Cowper | nickname = | birth_date = 28 December 1908 | birth_place = Mosman, New South Wales, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1981|12|5|1908|12|28}} | death_place = | height = | weight = | ru_position = Three-quarter | amatyears1 = | amatteam1 = Northern Suburbs Rugby Club | amatteam2 = Melbourne Rugby Club | ru_amupdate = | repteam1 = Australia | repyears1 = 1931–1933 | repcaps1 = 9 | reppoints1 = 18 | ru_ntupdate = | years1 = | clubs1 = | apps1 = | points1 = | ru_clubupdate = | super1 = | superyears1 = | superapps1 = | superpoints1 = | ru_currentclub = | super14update = | province1 = Victoria | province2 = New South Wales | provinceyears1 = 1930–1935 | provinceyears2 = 1934–1935 | provinceapps1 = | provincepoints1 = | ru_provinceupdate = | repsevensyears1 = | repsevensteam1 = | repsevenscomp1 = | ru_sevensupdate = | coachteams1 = Australia | coachyears1 = 1957–58 | ru_coachupdate = | sooyears = | sooteam = | soocaps = | soopoints = | sooteam pre-1980 = | other = | occupation = | relatives = {{ubl|Bob Cowper (son)|David Cowper (son)}} | school = Newington College | university = }}
'''Denis Lawson''' "'''Dave'''" '''Cowper''' (28 November 1908 – 5 December 1981) was an Australian national representative rugby union player who captained the Wallabies for six matches including three Tests in 1933. He was the first Victorian player to captain his country in rugby union.<ref name="Cowper">Australian Rugby – The Game and the Players (Jack Pollard Syd, 1994) pp 123: Cowper, Denis Lawson "Dave" (1908–1981)</ref>
==Club career== Born at Mosman, New South Wales Cowper was educated at Newington College in Sydney (1923–1927).<ref>Newington College Register of Past Students 1863–1998 (Syd, 1999) pp43</ref> He played club rugby with the Northern Suburbs Rugby Club before relocating to Melbourne at age 21 where he continued at the Melbourne Rugby Union Football Club. He trialled for Australia as a sprinter, placing third in the national trials for the 100m held to select a team for the 1932 Summer Olympics.
==Representative career== He made his representative debut in 1930 for Victoria against Great Britain scoring three tries in a narrow 36–41 loss. He was then selected in the 1931 full Australian side sent to New Zealand and captained by Syd Malcolm with Cyril Towers and Alex Ross in the senior playing group. They won three, drew one and lost six matches including the single Test. Cowper played in nine of the ten matches, three on the wing and the rest at centre. Cowper scored two tries in his Test debut in the Bledisloe Cup match played at Eden Park and was the second top-scorer of the tour with six tries.<ref name="Howell p104">Howell p104</ref>
In 1932, he again met the All Blacks in three Test appearances when they came to Australia, scoring tries in two of those fixtures. Howell describes him as having "speed to burn, a great outside swerve, sound in defence and a born leader of men".<ref name="Howell p104" />
In 1933, Cowper was in the squad that made Australia's first ever rugby tour of South Africa. He played in 17 of the 23 games including all five Tests and was the tour top scorer with 34 points from four tries, nine conversions and a dropped goal. He captained Australia in three tour matches and in three Tests, being first honoured as captain in the first Test of the tour when Malcolm and Ross were unavailable through injury. Though born in New South Wales, Cowper at that point became the first Victorian to captain the Wallabies.<ref name="Howell p104">Howell p104</ref>
He made further state representative appearances for New South Wales and Victoria in 1934 and 1935.
==Coaching career== He became an Australian selector and was assistant manager and coach of the squad for the 1957-58 Australia rugby union tour of Britain, Ireland and France. The tour was a disappointment with the Wallabies losing all five Tests. Howell writes that Cowper, "ever the gentleman, never criticised the players, even when he had every right to....he personified the true amateur, playing always to the rules with a strict code of ethics".<ref name="Howell p104" /> Squad member Nicholas Shehadie was less complimentary in his published recollections, suggesting Cowper had limited imagination as a coach and their training was "devoid of variety which made it very tedious".<ref>Shehadie p194</ref>
His late son Bob Cowper played Test cricket for Australia in the 1960s.
{{s-start}} {{succession box|title=Australian national rugby union captain|before=Jimmy Clark|after=Alex Ross|years=1933}} {{s-end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
===Bibliography=== * Collection (1995) ''Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby'', HarperCollins Publishers Sydney * Howell, Max (2005) ''Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains'', Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ * Zavos, Spiro (2000) ''Golden Wallabies'' Penguin Sydney * Shehadie, Nicholas (2003) ''A Life Worth Living'', Simon & Schuster Australia
===External links=== *[http://www.scrum.com/statsguru/rugby/match/19467.html Dave Cowper at StatsGuru]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowper, Dave}} Category:1908 births Category:1981 deaths Category:Australian rugby union coaches Category:Australian rugby union players Category:Australia national rugby union team captains Category:Australia international rugby union players Category:Rugby union centres Category:People educated at Newington College Category:Rugby union players from Sydney Category:Northern Suburbs Rugby Club players Category:New South Wales rugby union team players Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen