A few days after naming themselves the “Wallabies” and a few weeks before playing England in the first official Test between the nations in 1908, the Australian national team lost a beloved member of the squad: Bertie the carpet snake, who had spent six weeks at sea and been smuggled into England down the strides of backrower Tom Richards, died an hour before kick off. Bad mouse, apparently.
So when Edgar Mobbs, the powerful English winger crossed the stripe two minutes into that first Test on 9 January, it was just another slap in the face for Australians in an era when British rugby fans derided them not as Wallabies but as “Rabbits”. Little wonder flanker Norman Row celebrated with cartwheels after his kick and chase sparked a 9-3 Australian victory that day.
