John Ranson

John Matthew Ranson was born in Durham, England, on 26 July 1938. His father was Jack Ranson, a professional footballer. He was educated at Durham School and went on to the University of Birmingham.

He played his early senior rugby on the wing for Durham City between 1959 and 1963 and represented Durham County.

In 1963 Ranson joined Rosslyn Park in London and was selected for England's first tour of Australia and New Zealand. He made his Test debut against New Zealand at Eden Park, Auckland, and scored England's first try of the opening Test, making him the first England player to score a try against the All Blacks in New Zealand. Later that year he also played for North Eastern Counties against the touring New Zealanders.

Between 1963 and 1964 he represented England eleven times, seven of them in full Test matches, and scored two Test tries, the second against Wales. He played six matches for the Barbarians between 1962 and 1966.

Unusually for an amateur player of the time, he also turned out for Racing Club de France, which shared committee members with Rosslyn Park, playing in fixtures against the national sides of the United States and Canada and in the 1966 Boston International Invitational Tournament. He ended his club career with Headingley in Leeds, playing there from 1968 to 1971.

Outside rugby Ranson worked as a brewer and later as a teacher, according to the Barbarians. He was married to Elizabeth Ranson, and they had a son, Jake. The couple moved to Malta around 1990 and later lived in Siggiewi, a rural area of the island.

In August 2016, aged 78, he disturbed three men in balaclavas, one reportedly carrying a gun, as he walked through his garage with his early morning mug of tea. He told the BBC that he slammed the door on the first intruder, threw the hot tea at the eyes of the second and targeted the third with the empty mug, then shouted out names as if others were in the house until the men fled over a wall. Afterwards, he said, he began locking the doors and windows he had previously left open.

England Rugby announced on 27 October 2026 that John Ranson had died at the age of 88. The exact date and place of death and the cause were not given in the announcement.

Ranson holds a lasting place in England rugby history as the first Englishman to score a try against New Zealand in New Zealand, a record set on the country's first tour there in 1963. His brief international career and his later fame as the pensioner who saw off armed robbers with a cup of tea made him one of the more colourful figures of the amateur era.