Richard Todd

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 "The obituaries for the actor Richard Todd stated that his father had played rugby for Ireland. Is that true? Anon

Yes.

Andrew William Palethorpe Todd played fullback in three consecutive Tests for Ireland - against Wales and France in 1913 and against France on New Year's Day, 1914. He was capped as a young medical student from Trinity College, Dublin and was on the winning side in his last two Tests. When he made his Test debut he was the third fullback Ireland had tried out in their first three matches of the 1913 Five Nations Championship. The Times rugby correspondent was muted in his opinions of Todd senior, writing: 'Of the Irish fullback this much may be said - that he was not so weak as the other Irish fullbacks who have been played this year.'
He must have played a brave game in the frost in Paris when Ireland won 8-6 in 1914, the same newspaper noting that he stopped the fierce rushes of the French forwards 'with considerable skill and pluck.' Dr Todd served as a major with the RAMC during the Great War and was awarded the Military Cross. The actor Richard Andrew Palethorpe Todd was born in Dublin in 1919 and was educated at Shrewsbury, the soccer-playing school his father had attended."