PLAYED IN 17 TESTS

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30794, 5 July 1965, Page 14

PLAYED IN 17 TESTS

W. Cerutti Dies

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) SYDNEY, July 4

W. "Wild Bin- Cerutti, one of the most colourful personalities In Australian Rugby history, died at Sydney last night after a heart attack. He was 56.

Cerutti toured South Africa and New Zealand as a player, and later as an official.

A product of soccer, Cerutti became one of the greatest prop forwards in Rugby. Speedy and barrel-chested, he held his own with the great AM Black, Springbok and British Isles forwards of his era.

His aggressive rucking and ability to mix it with the fieriest opponents earned him the name of "Wild Bill.”

Cerutti represented New South Wales from 1929 to 1937 against New Zealand, Great Britain and South Africa.

He appeared in 17 interna tionals, making his test debut against the AM Blacks in Australia in 1929 when he helped Australia win all three games of the series and carry off for the first time the Bledieloe Cup, emblematic of Rugby supremacy between the two countries.

Cerutti also helped Australia defeat Britain, 6-5, in a memorable test at Sydney in 1930. He played in the 1931 and 1932 test series against the All Blacks in Australia, making a total of seven successive test appearances against New Zealand.

"Bill Cerutti's countless friends will be shocked to learn of his death,” said the chairman of the New Zealand Rugby Union council, Mr T. W. Morrison, in Wellington today.

“He was known to thousands of New Zealanders and was a great favourite here.”