Born: c. 1913 Died: deceased Test record: 1 Test (1937) – 0 points Tours: 1938 tour of Australia
A Taranaki rugby union and rugby league representative, Jack McLeod received a Kiwis call-up after moving to Auckland in 1937.
The versatile forward transferred from TRL club Western Suburbs to Richmond Rovers and was selected at lock for the first Test against the 1937 Australian tourists at Carlaw Park, which New Zealand lost 12-8.
Four days later, McLeod was part of the New Zealand Māori side that defeated the 1937 Australian tourists 16-5 – earning praise for his first-rate hooking of the ball in scrums.
McLeod was chosen for the following year’s tour of Australia. No Tests were played, but he featured in seven of the nine games, scoring two tries in a win over Newcastle and dotting down again in the last match of the tour, a draw against a star-studded Sydney Firsts line-up.
McLeod again had the better of the cream of Australian forwards in 1939 when his Richmond club defeated a Combined City team from Sydney 17-16.
He was named in the Taranaki Rugby League Team of the Century in 2008.
