Born: August 6, 1889 – Otaki
Died: October 12, 1918 – France
Test record: 0 Tests

George Cook played for New Zealand against touring NSW teams in 1912-13 before losing his life in World War I.

A Horowhenua rugby union rep from 1907-10, Cook switched to rugby league and was selected for New Zealand in 1912 from the Lower Waikato sub-league.

Cook lined up on the wing in an 18-10 loss to a strong NSW line-up at Auckland’s Domain Cricket Ground.

The following season, despite not touring Australia earlier in the year, he was chosen on the flank for New Zealand again on home soil for the first clash with NSW – a 33-19 loss in Auckland.

Cook enlisted in the Māori Pioneer Battalion in November 1915. He was gassed twice on the battlefields of France and died of pneumonia in October 1918, aged 29. He is buried among more than 10,000 Commonwealth graves at Étaples Military Cemetery.

Peter Edwards, a 1993 Kiwis tourist, is the great-great-great grandnephew of Cook.