MY LIFE IN RUGBY

FORMER NEWPORT, WALES, BARBARIANS AND COMBINED SERVICES CENTRE

Nowadays it is only Test payers who get the opportunity to play against the major touring sides, but I was fortunate enough to face Australia, South Africa and New Zealand and beat all three, twice with Newport and once with the Barbarians.

I became only the second person to do the ‘treble’ against the ‘big three’ on Welsh soil after Percy Bush in 1905/06. My ambition was that a Cardiff player couldn’t have the record all by himself, such was the rivalry between our clubs.

My never-ending memory of the decisive All Blacks game in 1963 is of us defending the clubhouse end at Rodney Parade for the last ten minutes and when the final whistle went, Dick (my centre partner John Uzzell) jumped on my back and said, ‘you’ve done it you old bugger, you’ve done it’. At the same time thousands of supporters were invading the field in celebration.

The first time I’d come across the All Blacks was in 1945-46 when as a schoolboy I sat in front of the Tote at Cardiff Arms Park and saw the Kiwis defeat Wales, with Jim Sherratt plucking out of the air a mis-directed kick by Lloyd-Davies and racing over for a try.

Little did I realise that nine years later at 18 years of age I would be on the field at Rodney Parade playing against R.C. Stuart’s fourth All Blacks. It was only my sixth game of senior rugby and the experience was a memorable one even though we lost 11-6. The thrill of kicking a long-distance penalty goal mid-way through the second half is still with me.

My first victory against a southern hemisphere side was an 11-0 win for Newport against the ’57 Wallabies, the biggest defeat of their tour. It took two attempts for me to beat South Africa, having missed out as captain of Newport in 1960/61, the year I won my two Welsh caps. Norman Morgan, who was probably the best goal-kicker in Wales had got injured the week before the game and a young debutant called Barry Edwards and I missed several kicks and we lost 3-0.

Redemption came when I played for the Barbarians against the Springboks at Cardiff Arms Park in the final game of their tour. Our 6-0 victory ended their unbeaten record and won us the Springbok Head Trophy, to match the one Newport achieved in 1912.

When I hung up my boots I became coach of Newport, and I think plotting the downfall of Dawie de Villiers’ Springboks in 1969/70 gave me as much pleasure as any of my wins as a player. We also enjoyed a memorable season when, under the captaincy of Brian Price, the club introduced the squad system into British rugby and we lost only four out of 45 games to win the Anglo-Welsh Merit Table.

South Africa is a country I’m very fond of and I’ve visited 55 times in various rugby capacities since my first tour there in ’58. North Transvaal, the current Blue Bulls, made me an honorary life member in 1995 because of my contribution to the sport which was a real honour, as was the honorary life membership of Newport RFC, awarded during the same period. A few years earlier, in 1989, I had been greatly involved with Dr Danie Craven and professor Fritz Eloff and WRU members of the International Rugby Board in ensuring the South African Rugby Union Centenary celebrations went ahead as planned.

But for the last 64 years my heart has always lain with Newport RFC. I started as a player and this season I was honoured to be appointed as the club’s first-ever ambassador. If you ask my wife Jacqueline how big a part the club has played in my life, and we’ve been married 52 years, she’d tell you that it was my life! - as told to Jon Newcombe