{"id":852410,"date":"2026-08-12T08:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T08:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/852410\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T08:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T08:36:14","slug":"brian-smith-death-scots-college-sports-boss-former-wallaby-rugby-league-star-dies-aged-59-tributes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/852410\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian Smith death: Scots College sports boss, former Wallaby, rugby league star dies aged 59, tributes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Wallabies<\/a> and rugby league star has died after a health battle. He was 59.<\/p>\n

Brian Smith played five Tests for the Wallabies in 1987, before controversially switching allegiance to Ireland and playing a further nine. He then played 43 league matches for Balmain and Eastern Suburbs in the early \u201990s.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Brian Smith in action for Balmain in 1993.\u00a0Craig Golding\/Fairfax Media<\/p>\n

After retiring from his football career, he went on to lead the sports department at Sydney\u2019s prestigious Scots College.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrian had been very unwell in recent months and was battling an aggressive cancer,\u201d Scots principal Ian Lambert wrote to school colleagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very sad news for our college community and I know it will come as a shock to many of you who knew and worked closely with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur immediate thoughts are with Brian\u2019s wife Lisa, his daughters Ruby and Santana, and his son Chilli.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former league great Mark Geyer played alongside Smith at Balmain in 1993 and was rocked by the news of his passing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were about the same age – I didn\u2019t even know the poor guy was crook,\u201d Geyer told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t find a nicer, more considerate person who cared for his teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he had plenty of ability too – playing for the Wallabies and then switching codes and starring in league is not easy to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a real talent and it is a tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallabies star Angus Bell opened his press conference on Wednesday with a classy tribute to Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to touch on the passing of Brian Smith, Wallabies (cap number) 659,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n

\"Angus<\/p>\n

Angus Bell of Australia celebrates with Rob Leota after scoring his team’s third try.\u00a0nna\\sworthington<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was coaching at the Scots school and coached a lot of us coming through the grades. I just wanted to say it\u2019s a really sad time, and we\u2019re wishing the best for his wife and kids. He was an avid rugby person and helped a lot of individuals in the squad and in the Wallabies today. Just sending my condolences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell said Smith\u2019s coaching had an enormous impact on his development.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old has played 54 Tests and is regarded as one of the world\u2019s best props.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was my coach in GPS and New South Wales 2s (seconds),\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 16 and fair to say I wouldn\u2019t have played anywhere near as good without him. Me, (Wallabies lock) Jeremy Williams and Will Harris from the Force were really close with him. He was a great bloke, a great father and a great coach. Very sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Wallabies coach Alan Jones once described Smith as one of the world\u2019s most gifted players.<\/p>\n

After playing in the 1987 Rugby World Cup, Smith moved to the UK to study before playing for Ireland. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Smith poses for a portrait in 1992.\u00a0Kylie Anee Pickett\/Fairfax Media<\/p>\n

By the time he returned to Australia in 1991, Jones had taken over as Balmain coach and convinced Smith to switch to the 13-man game. <\/p>\n

Playing mostly at halfback, Smith made 37 appearances for the Tigers before ending his career with the Tricolours. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Wallabies and rugby league star has died after a health battle. He was 59. Brian Smith…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-852410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}