Cool hand Luke’s green roots

A WARM Australian smile and handshake greets you when you inform Luke Burgess you’re Irish because the new Wallaby scrumhalf isn’t shy to talk about his Irish roots — and it’s quite a lineage.

He proudly announces he’s the descendant of an Irish convict, John Moran, transported to New South Wales for stealing guns from the English. He was pardoned and, with his wife, settled in Morpeth in the NSW Hunter Valley where their two sons gave them 27 grandchildren.

The story gets better: Moran worked for a man called John Eales, a name that two centuries later became folklore because of the feats of a famous Wallaby captain.