James Duncan was a New Zealand rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 footballer, coach and referee. He was born in Dunedin, New Zealand. He appeared for Otago

Otago Rugby Football Union

The Otago Rugby Football Union is the official governing body of rugby union for the Otago Region of New Zealand. The union is based in the city of Dunedin, and its home ground is Forsyth Barr Stadium. The top representative team competes in the ITM Cup, New Zealand's top provincial...

 before being selected to play for New Zealand

All Blacks

The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....

 in 1897. He captained New Zealand for the first time against Wellington

Wellington Rugby Football Union

The Wellington Rugby Football Union is the official governing body of rugby union in the city of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand...

 in 1901. He captained New Zealand in its first Test

Test match (rugby union)

Test match in rugby union is a match recognised as being a full international match by at least one of the participating teams' governing bodies. It is an unofficial but widely used term in the sport....

, against Australia

Australia national rugby union team

The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...

, in 1903. That was also his last game for New Zealand. Duncan then moved to coaching, coaching New Zealand in its first home test, against Great Britain

British and Irish Lions

The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...

, in 1904. In 1905 he was selected to coach the New Zealand team

The Original All Blacks (1905)

The Original All Blacks were the first New Zealand national rugby union team to tour outside Australasia. They toured the British Isles, France and the United States of America during 1905–1906. Their opening game was against Devon on 16 September 1905 whom they defeated 55–4...

 to tour the Northern Hemisphere. His appointment as coach was unpopular, and most of the coaching ended up being done by team members Billy Stead

Billy Stead

Billy Stead was a New Zealand rugby union player born in Invercargill who played for the All Blacks in their 1905 tour. Stead also played for Southland, and later coached various teams, including Southland and the New Zealand Māori...

 and Dave Gallaher

Dave Gallaher

David "Dave" Gallaher was a New Zealand rugby union footballer, best known as the captain of "The Originals", the first New Zealand national rugby union team to be known as the All Blacks....

 instead. In 1908 he refereed a Test between New Zealand and the Anglo-Welsh

British and Irish Lions

The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...

.

Duncan is credited with naming the position "five-eight"; as there was already positions half-back and three-quarters, he came up with the name according to the fraction between them.

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