Theodore Alexander "Theo" Samuels (21 July 1873 – 16 November 1896) was a South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n international 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...

 player. Born in George

George, Western Cape

George is a city with 203,253 inhabitants in South Africa's Western Cape province. The city is a popular holiday and conference centre and the administrative and commercial hub of the Garden Route.- Location :...

, he attended Diocesan College

Diocesan College

The Diocesan College, or Bishops as it is more commonly known, is an independent, all-boys school situated in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town, South Africa...

 before playing provincial rugby for Griqualand West (now known as the Wildeklawer Griquas

Wildeklawer Griquas

The GWK Griquas are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. Their home ground is Hoffe Park Stadium, known for sponsorship reasons as GWK Park in Kimberley, and they draw their players from Northern Cape Province. They were previously known as...

). He made all three of his 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....

 appearances for South Africa

South Africa national rugby union team

The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...

 during Great Britain's 1896 tour

1896 British Lions tour to South Africa

1896 British Isles tour to South Africa was a rugby union tour undertaken by the British Isles, one of the first British and Irish Lions tours. The team toured South Africa for the second time in 1896. Between July 11 and September 5, they played 21 games, including four tests against South Africa...

, making his debut in the 2nd Test of the series. Playing on the wing, Samuels became the first player to score for South Africa in an international, scoring two tries

Try

A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...

 in a 17–8 loss at the Wanderers

Wanderers Stadium

BIDVest Wanderers Stadium is a stadium situated just south of Sandton in Illovo, Johannesburg in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Test, One Day and First class cricket matches are played here. It is also the home ground for the Highveld Lions, formerly known as Gauteng .The stadium has a seating...

. Samuels switched to fullback for the remaining two Tests of the series, a loss at Kimberley

Kimberley, Northern Cape

Kimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...

 was followed by a victory at Newlands

Newlands Stadium

Newlands Stadium, currently referred to as DHL Newlands for sponsorship reasons, is located in Cape Town, South Africa.The stadium currently has a capacity of 51,900 people, but is not an all seater venue....

, South Africa's first as a Test nation. Samuels died just over two months later, in Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

, at the age of 23.