James C Grant
James C Grant
1964 -
Rugby International
James Grant was born in Canowindra on 22 May 1964, and attended Canowindra Central School where he played his early rugby. His secondary schooling was at St. Stanislaus College in Bathurst where he represented the First XV before moving into senior rugby with Orange City Club in 1983.
In his first season with Orange City, James was selected for Central West and New South Wales Country and in 1984/1985 he moved to Kiama for two seasons where he played for Illawarra, New South Wales Country and New South Wales. James moved back to Orange in 1986 and again made the State senior side, and in 1987 he played in the Sydney competition with Gordon but failed to make State selection.
Moving back to Orange in 1988 James hit top form and gained selection for New South Wales and Australia when he was chosen in the National side to play a World XV at Concord.
James was retained in the Australian squad where he was reserve for one Test against England, and then played his first Test at Ballymore. In the series against New Zealand, James was reserve for the first test but then played in the remaining two tests of the series. The flying Centre was then chosen for the Wallaby tour of the UK and Italy where he played in nine of the fifteen matches on tour, and - this included the first test at Twickenham against England.
Many critics felt that the selectors unjustly treated him after being dropped for the remaining tests. There was media speculation on his defecting to rugby league when the Wallaby tour ended. With a degree in Sports Science, James was unable to pursue his career in Orange and could not find suitable employment to allow the time off that was needed to play the amateur code. James was made an excellent offer by the Balmain Rugby League Club and commenced his career in professional football at the beginning of 1989, after having represented New South Wales on 15 occasions and Australia in four tests and one unofficial test.
James moved to England for two years to coach Bradford and he eventually returned to Orange in 2003 and established his own fitness Gymnasium.
