John Anderson (rugby union)

John Anderson was a Scotland international rugby union player. He later was signed by Huddersfield Giants to play rugby league.

A native of Hawick, Anderson played for Hawick.^[1]

He also played for the Army and the Combined Services side during the Second World War.^[1]

He later moved on to play for London Scottish.^[2]

He played for Scotland Probables against Scotland Possibles in the trial match of 15 December 1945.^[3]

He was capped only once for Scotland on 19 January 1946. This was a non-cap match at the time but the SRU gave it full cap status in 2024.

Anderson played for Scotland against the All Blacks touring side, which at the time were designated a New Zealand Army side. The match against Scotland proved the All Blacks only defeat of their tour with Anderson scoring two tries in a 11 - 6 win.^[4]

Not surprisingly, after scoring two tries against the All Blacks, the professional sides of England's Rugby League wanted to snap Anderson up in a move to the code of Rugby League. Leeds, Halifax, Oldham and Huddersfield all made moves to sign him.^[1]

It was Huddersfield that won the race for his signature on 21 January 1946, only two days after his Scotland international match against the New Zealand Army.^[5][6]

It was billed as 'the biggest capture in post-war history'.^[7]

With Anderson in tow, Huddersfield reached that year's Championship final against Wigan on 18 May 1946.^[8] Wigan won the match 13- 4.

Huddersfield did however win the 1949 Championship title with Anderson assisting in Huddersfield's final try of the final by Deverey. Huddersfield won the match and the title in a 13-12 win.^[9]

Anderson was a keen sprinter and ran in the Powderhall Sprint.^[1]

On the start of World War 2, Anderson joined the Army. He was a Prisoner of War in German hands for 3 years. The POW camp was in Czechoslovakia.^[1][7]