Our star-studded Wales XV who did not get the chance to roar with Lions
IT’S a tale that’s probably been twisted a thousand and one times, but it’s still counted among the classics, telling how a couple of friends jumped a nightclub queue after a Lions tour while pretending to be Martin Johnson and Rob Howley.
When England’s greatest-ever No.6 reportedly tried to ease his way in, he was stopped at the door by a bouncer. “I’m Richard Hill,” he explained.
“Never heard of you,” came the reply. “But if you’re with those two, I’d better let you in.”
And a Lions tour is supposed to make household names of all involved.
Whatever, the stone-cold certainty is that every rugby union player in these isles would want to be part of the world’s greatest touring squad.
But not everyone can be so fortunate.
Sometimes fate simply denies deserving cases, whether through injury or sheer circumstance.
We’ve picked an illustrious team of Welsh players from over the decades who never got to test themselves with the best of British and Irish rugby. Some involved could have proven all-time greats in the famous red jersey, but, sadly, it just didn’t happen…
15. Paul Thorburn
There were greater attacking full-backs in European rugby at the time Thorburn played – he operated at the time of the genius that was Serge Blanco, for instance – but he was a byword for reliability and an extraordinary goal-kicker.
He also had a professional mindset during an era when the game was amateur and Welsh rugby was amateur to the power of 10.
Never one to shy away from controversy, he failed to make the cut with the Lions in 1989 and retired from the Test scene in 1991.
14. Billy Trew
Trew was a genius who played wing, centre and fly-half for Wales during their first golden era.
A natural athlete who sometimes scored tries by leaping over the heads of would-be tacklers, he led the national side with distinction and boasts a greater Test win percentage than any player with 20 or more caps in Welsh rugby history.
But he never toured with the Lions. A boilermaker by trade, he would have found it tough to take an extended period off work to journey with the tourists.
13. Mark Ring
Talent was never Ring’s problem – he was as gifted as they come, a man who had more tricks in his locker than a circus entertainer.
He also had a sharp rugby brain.
Injuries sadly conspired against this maverick at key points in his career, but in 1988 he dazzled as one of four fly-halves in the back division that Wales paraded at Twickenham. Throughout that campaign his class shone through.
He might have made the 1989 trip to Australia, but a serious knee problem killed his hopes.
Oh, and the 1986 tour to South Africa was scrapped because of apartheid and all that went with it.
What a joy it was to watch him play, though.
12. Claude Davey
An authentic crash-tackling great who ranks as one of the finest Welsh centres of all time.
His misfortune was that his career peaked at a time when there was no Lions tour. He was too young in 1930 and in 1938 his Test days were coming to an end.
It meant that a man who played in two winning sides against the All Blacks, in the space of three months in 1935, was never a Lion.
11. Adrian Hadley
A powerful, but deceptively skilful wing who could run around a brick wall as well through one, the 6ft 2in, 15st 7lb Hadley was a player who would have flourished in any era.
He would have been there or thereabouts for the 1986 tour of South Africa, only for the trip to be cancelled because of the political situation in the republic.
By the time the Lions went to Australia in 1989, he had already switched to rugby league.
10. Jonathan Davies
Among the handful of greatest players from any of the home countries not to have toured with the best of British and Irish rugby.