Great Welsh No 10S

By Lynn Davies

An analysis of the contribution of 32 Welsh rugby Number 10s who were selected for their country between 1947 and 1999. The list includes Carwyn James, Barry John, Phil Bennet, Neil Jenkins and many more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Y Lolfa
• Release date: Oct 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9781784611934

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the following for their contributions to the publication of this book: the staff at the National Library of Wales for their willing pursuit of required research material; Clive Rowlands for writing the Foreword to this publication and for his valued opinions on the completed work; the staff at Y Lolfa for their cooperation and in particular Eirian Jones for her much appreciated editorial guidance.

Lynn Davies

September 2013

FOREWORD

As a player, coach and manager with Wales and the British and Irish Lions, I worked with very many of the players featured in Great Welsh Number 10s. Recalling their exploits, as noted by Lynn Davies in this publication, gave me much pleasure and I’m sure that rugby followers generally will take great enjoyment from the following chapters. Similarly, in the case of younger generations, learning of the contributions of such esteemed international fly-halves to the game of rugby in Wales will be a source of immense inspiration.

Clive Rowlands

INTRODUCTION

Ever since the brothers David and Evan James, who played for Swansea and Wales, were credited with establishing the specialised position of outside-half towards the end of the 19th century, we have succeeded in producing a seemingly endless supply of talented players to play in that position, which, of course, is also referred to in the world of rugby as stand-off, fly-half, pivot, first five-eighth and number ten (previously known as number six). Indeed, mainly as result of a ballad written by Max Boyce, the idea that we had an underground factory that produced young men to play fly-half for Wales, became enshrined in our folk-lore. However that factory is no longer in operation and the demand for the product for which it became famous is now redundant. The old conveyor belt is no longer working. The patent is now defunct. The whole business has been taken over by multinationals. This publication endeavours to examine the factory’s order book over the latter part of its existence, namely from 1947–99, until immediately after the advent of professionalism in rugby. It notes all the players who were capped at outside-half for Wales during that period, giving a synopsis of their careers and contribution to Welsh rugby.

As a nation we have attributed greater importance to the outside-half position than any other (contrary to the values lauded by rugby enthusiasts in other countries e.g. New Zealand and South Africa, where, during the time span recognised in this publication, aspects of forward play were traditionally a source of greater reverence). He was the playmaker and controller around whom the performance of the team usually revolved and the one who normally dictated the tactics to be deployed by the team. Of course there were occasions when he was the less dominant partner of a half-back pairing but generally it was he who instigated much of the enterprising play that inspired his team and entertained and excited spectators. Indeed, he was generally viewed as the great provider of a team’s success in whom the expectations of supporters were firmly rooted. He was consequently eagerly exalted, giving rise perhaps to the claim made by Mike Gibson, the former celebrated Irish international and British Lion that the traditional Welsh outside-half had the inherent ability to walk on water!

He was the epitome of what in latter years became known as ‘the Welsh way’, in pursuit of which he would display innate skills which seemed to form part of his genetic make-up. Yet despite their common goal the talents of the outside-halves who represented their country over the years were varied and sometimes contrasting, as were the opinions of their supporters when advocating the qualities which merited their selection for Wales. No other position was ever the cause of such fierce debate among rugby followers and over the years arguments concerning, for example, Cleaver v Davies, Watkins v John, Bennett v Bevan, Davies v Dacey etc. dominated rugby discussion in pubs, clubs and the press. However, despite the regal status awarded fly-halves in rugby circles, they were often pilloried when they fell short of providing anticipated glory. This is born out by a frequently aired comment, when the national team was going through a particularly barren spell in the 1980s, that the remedy normally applied by the selectors following a bad performance by Wales was to change the outside-half!

Even though Welsh outside-halves of old had their own distinguishing fortes and weaknesses, they could in general be placed in one of two categories, namely the ‘twinkler’ or the ‘glider’ and their characteristics were succinctly analysed by the author, Alun Richards:

There is the natural instinctive runner and the ‘made’ player whose effort appears greater, who in some ways is more exciting to watch since he is a duellist and brings a conscious act of deception to bear when beating a man. On the one hand there is grace, the nervous intuitive instincts of a sleek and darting forest animal: on the other there is a mental calculation and usually a greater point of identification and admiration. The sidestepper at his best gives off a kind of Look, no hands! attitude. One has a cool, insouciant grace, the other is wound up like a spring. One deceives, the other humiliates. This first group I call the High Church outside-halves, the second, the Chapel outside-halves… Of course, the categories are not as clear-cut as that, and no player in this position can be fully considered without an assessment of his defensive abilities. The qualities can sometimes overlap so that some fly-halves become non-denominational, but the distinction is there and always seems to have been present.

Since the International Rugby Board (IRB) decided to embrace professionalism in 1995 the game has undergone many changes. The amount of time that players now devote to preparation in the gym and on the practice field has led to considerably higher fitness levels and marked changes in their physical make-up. Their ability, during a game, to cover incessantly vast areas of the pitch has now led to a capacity to close down spaces which would have previously been more easily exploited. Similarly, players are now more equipped to maintain such standards for the duration of a match so that tiredness is now less likely to be the forerunner of capitulation. In addition, the general increase in the bulk and strength of current players, aided by input from dieticians and nutritionists, makes it more difficult to breach defences but conversely easier to stem physical pressure.

Perhaps the greatest difference, however, is the manner in which the modern game is played. Whereas some present-day matches, such as the Wales v England 2013 Six Nations Championship decider and the final Test between the British and Irish Lions and Australia three months later, produced memorable theatre and excitement, critics maintain that generally in the game today spontaneity is afforded little rein and is often at a premium. Teams generally use a specific number of planned moves pre-determined by coaches and the norm on the field features a pattern of phase play which usually involves a series of rather static and repetitive collisions where bulk and power are of paramount importance in pursuing a principle similar to that found in ten-pin bowling. Even when the ball is sometimes recycled across the field to a waiting line of players, who are in direct opposition to a corresponding number from the other team, there is every likelihood that such formations will contain a group of forwards, which can exacerbate the ponderous nature of such a process. Resorting to flair and adventure is frequently further discouraged by a preponderance of ping-pong-type kicking employed to gain a territorial foothold in order to propagate the tactics noted above, as opposed to engaging in more open and inherently risky play.

Of course the outside-half still has an important part to play within the confines of such a game plan, all be it in a role which would be alien to the players included in this publication. Whereas he is still the controller and decision maker with regard to the way in which a team utilises its possession, the modern outside-half, as he endeavours to implement the tactics devised by the coach by calling the appropriate options as he sees fit, no longer has the freedom, space or time to engage in the kind of instinctive play which formed an integral part of his predecessors’ armoury. He is also expected to do his share of hard-graft tackling in a manner which was previously considered to be within the ambit of back-row forwards. It is still within his brief to unlock the opposition’s line of defence but such an accomplishment is more likely to be achieved by effecting space for other players rather than by his own penetrative brilliance.

The fly-halves included below all played for Wales in an era when they were expected to entertain and exhilarate while endeavouring to guide and control their team’s performance in pursuit of commendable results. The following chapters describe the extent to which they succeeded in doing so. There are various opinions expressed therein as to who among them was ‘the greatest’ but if rugby followers throughout Wales were ever balloted on that matter it is more than likely that, despite pressing claims from Cliff Morgan, Jonathan Davies etc. the winner would be Barry John. It is for that reason that he is featured on the cover of Great Welsh Number 10s.

CLIFF ASHTON

The description of Cliff Ashton as ‘pixie-like’ and ‘elfin’ by the authors of Fields of Praise is doubtless derived, to some extent, from the twinkle-toed, mercurial manner in which he could dance over even the most inhospitable of surfaces, as was witnessed when he first played for Wales in January 1959 (in a game which is mainly remembered for the magnificent debut try scored by Dewi Bebb to defeat England on the sea of mud that was Cardiff Arms Park). Cliff’s slight stature and seemingly fragile build certainly caused him to stand out on the field amongst other more muscular participants, as did his custom of wearing a white headband, thus making him one of the forerunners amongst backs who were later to adopt that practice. However amongst his most distinguishing factors were his lightening bursts of speed and cutting breaks.

He was a native of Cwmafan, and started his senior rugby career with his village club before joining Aberavon. However he’d been playing for the Wizards for many seasons before making his debut for Wales at the comparatively mature age of almost 27 years old. He was the first in a succession of outside-halves selected to replace Cliff Morgan, who had been an automatic selection for 28 games before he decided to retire from international rugby after the last game of the Five Nations Championship in 1958. Filling his boots after such a lengthy tenure caused the Welsh selectors some difficulty and in that respect six players were selected in the fly-half position during the following four seasons. This was the precursor of a similar problem which was to occur following the departure of Jonathan Davies to rugby league some 30 years later.

Yet Cliff Ashton had a fairly settled period in the Wales side following his first game, in that he was the preferred choice at fly-half for five of the next six matches, during which time he played with three different scrum-halves. Ironically for his fifth and sixth appearances in a Wales jersey he was partnered by Onllwyn Brace, who played for Llanelli at the time but who had previously played with Cliff at Aberavon, when their roles had been reversed. During that period Cliff was the team’s scrum-half with Onllwyn playing outside-half. Indeed the latter left the Wizards for that very reason, wishing to join a club where he could establish himself as a scrum-half.

Following his sixth appearance for Wales, Cliff was overlooked by the selectors for the next nine matches, to be recalled in November 1962, after the departure of the incumbent Maesteg outside-half, Alan Rees, to rugby league. In a drab 3–3 draw with Ireland, a game which had been postponed the previous season owing to an outbreak of smallpox, Cliff partnered his Aberavon colleague, Tony O’Connor. He had a disappointing match, in which he kicked ineffectively, was indecisive in his attempts to bring his centres into play and was unable to stamp his authority on the match in any way.

It was to be the last appearance for both half-backs in a Wales jersey although at the time they were part of a very formidable team at the Talbot Athletic ground. In 1960–1 Aberavon won the Welsh club championship with Cliff being the linchpin of an attack which crossed for 155 tries. Between 1957 and 1962, the club supplied nine players for the Wales team yet Cliff was considered to be such a key member of the side that amongst local supporters the club was affectionately known as Aberashton! He was a popular figure also at social events for he and his club colleague and contemporary in the Wales team, winger John Collins, were apparently much in demand as a highly amusing double-act on the piano. However Cliff left the Wizards in 1962 and made one appearance for Newport against Bristol. The following year he joined Cardiff where he stayed for two seasons before moving to Chepstow Rugby Club where he remained for several years as a player and coach. A teacher and PT instructor by profession, he died in 2001 in Newport at the age of 68.

PHIL BENNETT

Phillip Bennett was raised in Felinfoel, the village near Llanelli with which he has been inextricably linked throughout his life, bringing it greater fame than its renowned brewery, which produced Britain’s first canned beer in 1935. He was not the first villager to gain national rugby status. For when, during his early years in the Wales team, he submitted