A family affair – how a famous rugby name is helping Exiles
HE may not have received the plaudits that came the way of international team-mates Gareth Edwards, Barry John, Gerald Davies, JPR Williams and Mervyn Davies.
Indeed, the writer Mark Reason once wrote: “John Dawes, the Welshman who captained the Lions in 1971, was almost a mythical person. It would be no great surprise to find out that he didn’t actually exist.”
He did – he really did.
So much so that Ross Reyburn entitled his book on the great centre “’The man who changed the world of rugby, John Dawes, and the legendary 1971 British Lions”.
Dawes captained the best of the British and Irish game during their historic series victory over New Zealand in that rugby year of years, just months after leading Wales to a swaggering Grand Slam.
And he was captain of London Welsh, who supplied seven players to the aforementioned Lions squad, among them JPR Williams, Gerald Davies, Dawes himself, John Taylor and Mervyn Davies, all of whom played in every Test.
The Exiles, then, were no ordinary side.
Under Dawes’s direction they ran teams off their feet while producing rugby from the gods, pinging the ball around at pace and with extraordinary skill.
“When you played against (those) guys at The Gnoll or Old Deer Park, it was like meeting the Harlem Globetrotters with studs on. They ran everything,” recalls former Neath and Wales flanker Dai Morris in his autobiography, Shadow.
A supreme tactician blessed with the ability to analyse play as it unfolded and change his side’s play accordingly, Dawes was also a beauti- ful passer of the ball.
He held everything together and brought the best out of those around him. And he did so at club level as well as on the international scene.
How welcome is it for London Welsh, then, that their former inspiration’s grandson has joined them as they look to continue to climb the English league pyramid.
Rhodri Dawes has no pretensions to being blessed with the kind of gifts his grandad boasted, but the youngster is versatile and keen and these last few weeks more than one old timer would doubtless have come over all dewy eyed at the sight of a Dawes walking through the Old Deer Park clubhouse once again.
His coach Cai Griffiths said: “It’s great to have Rhodri on board.
“The club has a big history and we all know how much of a part Rhod’s grandad played in that.
“It’s incredible to think we have in our squad a link to those days.
“Also, John Taylor, John Dawes’s old team-mate, is our president and he attends the majority of the club’s games. He has great rugby knowledge and so it is always good to have a chat with him.”
Griffiths continued: “Rhodri can potentially play in a few positions, including wing, full-back, centre and fly-half. He’s played at a decent standard previously, in National League 2, and he featured recently when we played out that 0-0 draw on Hackney Marshes with Old Streetonians.
“He’s working near Heathrow, just 40 minutes from us, which makes it easy for him.”
Dawes’ father and grandfather were pitchside to watch Dawes junior make a try-scoring home debut against Kilburn Cosmos.
An English Premiership club just four seasons ago, Welsh are enjoying a mini-revival after plunging into liquidation and opting to focus on their amateur set-up. They won promotion from the ninth tier of the English game last season and are currently on a yearlong unbeaten run in the league.
Griffiths, formerly of the Ospreys, is heading up the on-pitch operation as player coach, packing down at lock instead of in his old position of prop.
“It’s a brilliant club to be part of,” he said. “There’s a great history but also a big desire to enjoy what we’re doing in the here and now.
“Not for a minute have I regretted coming here to live and work.
“There’s a togetherness about the place and a great atmosphere.
“We have no illusions about the level we are playing at, but the boys all love their rugby and we’re obviously doing a few things right to have gone a year unbeaten in the league.
“The aim is to keep climbing. It’s great fun but we want to win as many games as we can as well. That’s important.”
It is heart-warming stuff that shows there is life beyond the top level. Winning is still the big goal.
But having fun is important, too. It’s the way London Welsh operated when they were at the very peak of their powers. John Dawes would doubtless applaud.