Jason Little was born
April 26,
1970 in
Toowoomba,
Queensland,
Australia. He won 75
caps with one as captain playing at
centre for the
Australian rugby union side between 1989 and 2000. He also won caps on the wing later in his career. He made his test debut at the tender age of 19 against
France 4 November,
1989 on the Australian tour to Europe that year and shortly afterwards, he and Horan were subjected to a mock ceremony where they pledged their futures to Rugby Union, promising not to defect to League. Both were to receive numerous offers from league clubs but turned them down.
In three quarters of his caps he partnered Horan and Little, who was also his partner at
Souths club in
Brisbane in the late 1980s and then for
Queensland Reds. His nickname was 'Sidney'.
Together he and Horan composed a fearful centre partnership for Australia which came to the fore during the
Rugby World Cup 1991 (won by Australia) and were widely regarded as the best centers in the world through the early 1990s, adding the Bledisloe Cup to their collection in 1992. Targeted by
Will Carling during the 1991 world cup as a possible weak spot in the Australian defence, he was proved wrong as the youngster tackled everything thrown at him. In the Barbarians match at the end of the 1992 Autumn tour, he showed northern hemisphere audiences what Australian's fans already knew - that he could pierce a defence as well.
In the second test of the test against South Africa in 1993, he threw an interception pass which allowed
Joel Stransky to run the length of the field and score under the posts. Australia were had lost the first test and the Boks were well up on the score sheet as a result of this and he was later to remark that his immediate reaction was that his career was over. He did however score a try in each half of the game and the
Wallabies won the match and eventually the series.
By the end of the 1990s he was no longer an automatic choice for the test side and made many appearances as a replacement as
Daniel Herbert competed with him to partner Horan in the centres. He later moved south to
New South Wales Waratahs in 2000 to resurrect his international career, a move which kept him the test squad and earning him a place and a second winners medal at the
Rugby World Cup 1999.
His final cap was a victory against
South Africa on
26 August 2000 which was won 19-18 in dramatic style.
After retiring from International Rugby, he played briefly in England, firstly for
Gloucester Rugby, then for a season as captain of
West Country rivals
Bristol Rugby, leading them to their first Twickenham appearance for 14 years, before retiring altogether from top-flight rugby.