Walter Irvine
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21 October 1865
| Born | Thomas Walter Irvine 21 October 1865 Chapel of Garioch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Died | 26 January 1919 (aged 53) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | Edinburgh University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Walter Irvine (21 October 1865 – 26 January 1919) was a Scotland international rugby union player. He became a surgeon and was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Medical Service.[1]
Amateur career
Irvine played rugby union for Edinburgh Academicals.[2][3]
Provincial career
He was capped by Edinburgh District to play in the inter-city match of 1883[4] and 1884[5] and captained the side in 1890. However, the Glasgow Herald report of the match fuzzily quotes him as 'T.W. Walter' of Edinburgh Academicals.[6]
He played for the East of Scotland District in January 1885,[7] February 1886,[8] and 1889.[9]
International career
He played 11 matches for Scotland from 1885 to 1889.[10]
It was said that only two other players could rank with him as a tackling forward: Mark Coxon Morrison and Bob Ainslie.[11]
The 1886 Scotland match with England offered Irvine a try-scoring opportunity to win the game, when he attempted to catch a low off-load from a Charles Reid break; however, Irvine failed to collect the ball. The match then ended in a draw.[11]
Fittingly it was another of Scotland's prodigies that endeavoured to win the match for his side. Only a man of Charles Reid's physique and power could have broken through the English defence as Reid did in the second half. From midfield it was a single-handed break clear of the forwards and straight through the English three-quarter line. You saw only two men on the field, the gigantic figure bearing down on his old schoolmate, Charles Sample, the English back. Then another flashed into view, and you saw Reid throw the ball down from his great height, hard and low, and Walter Irvine failing to pick it up on the run. So little often lies between the winning and losing of a match.