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Colin "Col" Windon, (8 November 1921 – 3 December 2003) was a rugby union player and soldier who captained Australiathe Wallabiesin two Test matches in 1951. By age 18 Windon was playing at flanker for his club Randwick DRUFC in Sydney's Shute Shield. After serving with the Second Australian Imperial Force in the Pacific War during the Second World War, Windon resumed his rugby career in 1946. He was first selected for Australia for their tour of New Zealand that year. Despite the Wallabies losing both their Tests on tour, Windon impressed with his play.
In 1947 Windon was selected for Australia's tour of Europe and North America where he played 27 of his side's 36 matches. He played all five Tests on tour, against Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England and France. In the match against England, which Australia won 11–0 after a dominant display from Windon that included two tries. He was appointed vice-captain for the Wallabies 1949 tour of New Zealand, where Australia won both Test matches to win the Bledisloe Cup in New Zealand for the first time.
He captained his country in two matches against the touring New Zealanders in 1951. Windon's career ended after an injury interrupted tour to South Africa in 1953. His eleven Test tries was the most by an Australian until the 1980s, and he was named in Australian rugby's team of the century in 1999. In 2005 he was honoured as one of the inaugural five inductees into the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame, and in 2013 was named as an inaugural inductee in Inside Rugby's Invincibles.
Colin's father Stan was a foundation member of the Coogee Surf Life Saving Club and played rugby with the Randwick DRUFC club in Sydney. Both Colin and his brother Keith Windon inherited their father's love of rugby; Keith played as a flanker for Australia between 1936 and 1946, with his career interrupted by the Second World War. According to author Max Howell, Keith was a "football genius", and was a star during the 1937 South African tour of Australia. It was after watching his brother play for Australia in 1937 that Colin decided he too wanted to play for Australia; at the time Colin was struggling in school rugby, and his father said to him "Son, I don't think you will ever play for Australia". Keith was on the ill-fated 1939 Wallaby tour to England; the team docked at Plymouth, but the next day war was declared and they returned to Australia without playing a game. Keith did manage to briefly resume his career after the war, touring to New Zealand with the 1946 Wallabies, but he was diagnosed with gout while on tour and was forced to retire.
In an obituary of Windon, he was described as "not only a rugged, hard-tackling breakaway, he was a speedy, elusive runner with a gift for scoring tries". According to Max Howell Windon claimed his best coach was his brother Keith. In order to analyse opponents, he would look up from the scrum before the ball was fed.
The following year New Zealand reciprocated and toured Australia. Windon played twice for the New South Wales Waratahs against the touring All Blacks, and in one of the two test matches. The tour was treated as a trial for Australia's 1947–48 tour of Europe and North America that commenced later that year. Windon played 27 matches on the 36-match tour, and in all five test matches: against Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England and France. The Wallabies did not concede a try in any of their four Home Nations matches.
Windon scored eight tries to be the fourth highest try scorer on tour behind three-quarters John MacBride, Charlie Eastes and Trevor Allan. He debuted as Australian captain in tour matches against Aberdeen and Leicester. In the Test against England at Twickenham he dominated the matchjournalist Phil Tressider said: "I saw him Windon single-handedly destroy England". Windon scored two tries in the first half, with the second coming after England fly-half Tommy Kemp spilled the ball which Windon collected before running to score. The try was converted to give Australia an unassailable lead., and they went on to win 11–0.
In 1949 a New Zealand Māori side toured Australia where they played three Test matches. The tour was organised by the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU) after Māori players were excluded from the All Blacks' 1949 tour to apartheid South Africa.: "the pacify Māori players who were barred from the All Black tour of South Africa in 1949 because of the colour of their skin" Windon appeared in all three Tests, as well as playing for New South Wales against the tourists. He scored a try in all three Tests; the first was won by the Maori, the second a draw, and the third won by Australia.
Later that year Windon he was selected as vice-captain to Trevor Allan for a tour of New Zealand. The 12-match tour included two Tests against the All Blacks. The series against New Zealand, for the Bledisloe Cup, was considered a consolation for the Maori players after the "guilt" of the NZRFU for not selecting them for the All Black tour of South Africa that was occurring at the same time. Windon played in ten tour matches, scored eight tries, and captained his side against Manawatu-Horowhenua. The Wallabies defeated the All Blacks in the two-Test series, winning the first 6–11 and the second 9–16. Windon scored in both matches, and despite the weakened opposition made history as part of the first Australian team to win the Bledisole Cup on New Zealand soil.
Windon's next Test was against the All Blacks when they reciprocated with a tour of Australia in 1951. Keith Winning captained the Wallabies in the first Test of the series, but broke his jaw in an Australian XV match. He was replaced as captain by Windon for the second and third TestsWindon's only Tests as captain. All three Tests were lost, and New Zealand went undefeated on tour. It was during this series that Windon got engaged, and celebrated by inviting the entire New Zealand side to his house.
In 1952 he was selected for the domestic series against Fiji and later that year again toured New Zealand with the Wallabies. He played in nine of Australia's ten tour matches in New Zealand. The Wallabies lost only two of their matches, a game against Southland, and their second Test against the All Blacks. In the first Test Windon harassed the New Zealand fly-half with his aggressive defence, and pounced on a loose ball to score a try after the ball was dropped following a mistimed All Blacks' back-line move. The New Zealanders adjusted to Australia's tactics to win the second Test 15–8, but Windon did get the consolation of another try.
Windon's last tour was to South Africa in 1953, but he never fully recovered from an injury suffered prior to the tour, and only made six appearances. He announced his retirement immediately following the tour. Early in his retirement he coached his club Randwick from 1954 to 1957.
For over thirty years Windon was Australia's leading Test try-scorer with 11, until his record was overtaken by winger Brendan Moon in the 1980s. Upon his induction Australian Rugby Union President Paul McLean referred to Windon as "an electrifying talent and a try scoring machine". His 1947 Wallaby tour teammate Sir Nicholas Shehadie described him as follows: "As back-row forwards go, he was the very best. A try-scoring machine, a superb attacker and with the speed of a three-quarter, the man they nicknamed 'Breeze' was simply peerless in supporting play".
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