He played his entire career for Parramatta as a centre and also represented Australia and New South Wales.
Rushworth was a Lithgow junior and was selected to play for New South Wales in 1963 and for Australia in 1964 as they toured France and Europe.
Rushworth only featured in one game on the tour scoring a try in a 18-6 victory over France at the Parc des princes.
Also in 1964, Rushworth made his final appearance for New South Wales scoring a try in a 31-5 thrashing of Queensland.
Over the following years, Parramatta hovered around the middle to lower table of the competition which culminated in another wooden spoon at the end of 1970.