Neath GS was hard as nails rugby melting pot
Brendan Gallagher continues his series looking at rugby’s great schools
THERE was a time when the blue and gold of Neath Grammar School was almost as feared as the all black of the town’s famous rugby club although alas both have faded badly with the march of time.
Neath Grammar School – deep in the heart of the south Wales rugby heartlands – was a melting pot of rugby talent and fervour, a school where footballs, should they ever appear in the playground, were confiscated or promptly punctured with nails. It was hard core and for many decades they were feared throughout the principality.
Throughout the 1960s for example – when they played the who’s who of Welsh schools and others beyond the bridge – they lost only ten games and that period included an unbeaten run of 90 games at home.
Their rugby alumni includes legendary Wales forwards like Courtney Meredith, Roy John – both played in Wales’ last victory over the All Blacks in 1953 – and Brian Thomas while there were progressive thinking players who became excellent coaches such as Roy Bish, John Bevan and Kevin Bowring. Thomas also became a notably successful coach with Neath, as did Jeff Herdman at Swansea.
Then there was Clive Norling who for a time in the 1980s was comfortably the world’s best referee; classy all-rounders such as Tony Lewis who captained England at cricket and had a promising rugby career stopped in its tracks by a knee injury, maverick fly-half David Richards and rugby administrators such as Denis Gethin. One way or another Neath GS had all the bases covered.
Rugby was established at the school in the late 19th century and by the 1920s they were a power in the land, and indeed in the town where a close relationship was automatically bult with the Neath club.
The transfer of allegiance
from school to town over the decades has been virtually automatic and many of those who became Neath stalwarts played their first big games in front of a paying crowd at the Gnoll where the club hosted two or three of the school’s biggest fixtures every season.
Putting aside the bigger names for a moment, some of the Grammar schoolboys who became the heart and soul of the club would include Billy Allin, Cyril Michael, Tonna Morgan, Howie Jones, Arthur Hickman, Gwyn Thomas, Rayner Jones, Vernon Friend, Ray Rees, Brian Richards, John Gratton, Cecil Roberts, John Sargent, Granville
Jones, John
Harris, Rhys
Thomas, Arnold Williams, Meirion Prosser,
Howard Steer, Beverly Davies, Brian Rees, Jeff Pyles, Mike Thomas, Darryl Jones, John Bevan, Wynne Davies, Alan Meredith, Robert Arbourne and Julian Jenkins. Of those Howie Jones, Hickman and Richards also won Welsh senior caps while Ron Jones and Brian Rees were capped from clubs other than Neath.
When it re-mustered as DwryFelin Comprehensive the rugby tradition continued although in a slightly diluted form. Nonetheless in more recent times they have produced Wales skipper David Pickering, prop Paul James and utility back Ashley Beck.
Just as Neath owed a great
deal to Neath GS, the school owed a great deal to a strong tradition of street rugby in Neath with various streets and neighbourhoods facing each other on the nearest patch of land.
Their first international, in 1930, would appear to have been wing Hickman who soon ‘went North’ and signed for Swinton, but before long two legendary figures, and near contemporaries at school, were making their mark. Both Roy John and Courtney Meredith are still regularly mentioned in despatches whenever all-time Wales XVs are being selected.
The athletic, high leaping John made his mark as a rangy
forward during the war years and developed apace after the war to make his Wales debut in 1950. His impact was instant, starring in Wales’ Grand Slam of that year and appearing in all six Lions Tests on their visit to New Zealand and Australia. He contributed to another Grand Slam in 1952 and the following year was joined by Meredith in the Wales team that defeated NZ.
Two years later it was Meredith making a splash for the Lions, being one of the most impressive forwards during the 2-2 drawn series in South Africa.
Such heroics were naturally held in high esteem back at their school which was enjoying another purple patch during the mid-fifties with three unbeaten
seasons out of four. One of those sides was skippered from full-back by Tony Lewis who was also the outstanding schoolboy cricketer in England and Wales – and lead violin in the National Youth orchestra of Wales.
As a cricketer Lewis made his Glamorgan debut, against Leicestershire, at the age of 17, while as a young rugby tyro he enjoyed a season with Gloucester while doing his national service. He won a rugby blue at Cambridge before a knee injury convinced him to concentrate on cricket, a career decision which saw him both captain England and become President of MCC. He also served as both the cricket and rugby correspondent of the Daily Telegraph.
A notable product of the late 1950s was the force of nature that was Brian Thomas, an extremely abrasive and powerful lock who followed Lewis to Cambridge and was capped on 21 occasions by Wales. Thomas subsequently coached Neath to five Welsh club championships, forging a side that could match Pontypool in terms of fitness and physicality while allowing a number of young backs like Jonathan Davies to flourish.
The late 1960s saw future Wales fly-half and coach John Bevan pulling the strings among the backs and the school remained arguably the strongest in Wales rolling into the early 1970s, which in many ways proved to be their last hurrah.
In those final years it was nothing for the school to have four or five Wales Schools caps in their ranks and their strength was well reflected in 1972 when, on a rare foray up to the Rosslyn Park Sevens, they took the Open title against Millfield with an impressive 22-6 win.
Flanker Kevin Bowring was a standout in that Sevens team and later went on to become a stalwart at London Welsh where he became the club captain. In 1985 he played in the John Player Cup final alongside a former Neath GS classmate, prop Bruce Bradley, one of those who won Welsh Schools
caps. Bowring went on to become the first profession- al coach of
the Wales national team and later, head of elite coaching development at the RFU, where he worked for 15 years.