Cliff Morgan: Lions flyhalf who dazzled SA on tour
1930-2013
LIONS flyhalf Cliff Morgan, who has died at the age of 83, scored only one try in the four tests he played against the Springboks in South Africa in 1955, but his impact on the series went far beyond the three points a try was worth in those days.
Former Welsh player and now rugby columnist Huw Richards said the test series was arguably the peak of Morgan’s career, which, only two years earlier, had included a victory over the All Blacks — the last time theWelsh have won against New Zealand.
The hard fields of South Africa suited Morgan’s style of adventurous running at flyhalf perfectly. With England centre Jeff Butterfield playing alongside him, said Richards, the team produced the best rugby ever seen from a Lions team. They drew the series 2-2 and delivered one of the shock results in world rugby at the opening test, played before a then world record crowd of 96 000 at Ellis Park in Johannesburg — the game in which Morgan scored his solitary try.
Fellow Welshman Clem Thomas, who played in that game, recalled: “Cliff Morgan weaved his magic. I can still see him sticking his neck out and rocketing past the great [Springbok flanker] Basie van Wyk with a devastating outside break to score an inspirational try.”
A South African rugby writer said afterwards: “Cliff Morgan is the best flyhalf to have played in South Africa in the past 50 years. I have yet to see his equal.”
Morgan’s dazzling runs have come down to posterity in jerky black-and-white newsreel clips.
He was popular with South Africans not only for his superb flyhalf play but also for his offthe-field activities. JBG Thomas, author and rugby writer, wrote that he was the “radioactive par-
An agility that made Harry Houdini look arthritic
ticle around which the whole social side of the tour revolved”. This included being the conductor of a team choir that beguiled South Africans from the moment of the team’s arrival, standing on the aircraft’s staircase to sing Sarie Marais.
His stunning acceleration and a jinking sidestep made him a great Welsh flyhalf — a line to be followed by Barry John, Phil Bennett and Jonathan Davies.
John once wrote: “The flyhalf’s job is complex, a jigsaw where cunning, skill, awareness, daring, courage and more than a little arrogance are all part of the make-up.” Morgan, by common consent, had all these attributes in spades. It was once said of him that he had “an agility that made Harry Houdini look arthritic”. Yet, although it included two Lions’ tours, his international career stretched only from 1951 to 1958.
Clifford Isaac Morgan was born at Trebanog in the Rhondda Valley on April 7 1930 into a nonconformist mining family devoted to chapel and choir. He was never happier than when singing with the London Welsh Male Voice Choir, of which he became president.
Morgan, who won 29 caps for Wales, was much loved for his warm and generous personality. After he retired as a player he spent 30 years in broadcasting. He became head of outside broadcasts at BBC Television, and on radio his voice became familiar in millions.
He married, in 1955, Nuala Martin, with whom he had a daughter and a son; Nuala died in 1999. In 2001 he married Pat Ewing, a former head of sport on Radio 4, and settled at Bembridge on the Isle of Wight.
He was appointed OBE in 1977. His autobiography, Beyond the Fields of Play, was published in 1996. — © The Daily Telegraph, London