Modern Neath rugby 1950s +

REES STEPHENS

32 Welsh caps 1947 - 1957 (most capped Welsh forward at the time)

British Lions 1950

Welsh Selector

British Lions Selector

Founder of Neath Athletic RFC

EXTRACTS FROM REES' JOURNAL

Rees' first match in 4 years.

"Saturday Sept 22nd 1945 - Up colliery in morn & did pay books as Lloyd away early. Left about 12 o'clock as playing for Neath against Cardiff. First match I've played in for 4 years so expect I shall be out of training. Had a massage with Thomas before game. Kicked off punctually at 3.30 & we were all over them especially the forwards. I scored a try from a line out but got knocked out in crossing. Eventually after a good and fast game we lost by 11 - 9 but it should have been a draw. Saw Jackie Matthews, Trew Hart & St John Rees after the match. Feeling rather stiff. Had a good tea and off to flics with Mike and then went to bed early."

Match Report from the Cardiff game

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Rees is approached by a Rugby League scout. 

Rugby League scouts were the scourge of Welsh Rugby from the inception of the 'Northern Union in the 1895/6 season until the game turned professional in 1995. Many a Welsh player was lured away by the promise of big bucks, Rees Stephens was no exception.

"Saturday Oct 13th 1945 - Up early and had breakfast with Doug then took him to station to meet 9.5 train. Haydn Vernon there to see him off. Took Haydn home and then took togs to be pegged. Phoned colliery, everything OK. Left Neath for Newport by bus & arrived there about 2.30. Quite a large crowd there. Lovely pitch but very heavy. In the first few minutes they scored 2 lucky tries and this upset the whole side. Anyway after a good game of open football they won 22-11. After bathing a Leeds scout asked G Hughes and myself if we would like to "GO NORTH". I told him to "GO TO HELL". Arrived Neath about 8.15 after talking with Frankie all the way down. Saw Tom and after a walk I buzzed off home as tired."  

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First match for Wales

First match for Wales against the NZ Services XV "The Kiwis". After the war caps were not awarded until the resumption of the Five Nations in 1947. Although picked for Wales Rees was not capped at this game.

"Saturday January 5th 1946 - Up about quarter to eight. Packed bag. Had breakfast. Dad ran me down to catch the 9.5 train. Packed with people. Stood all the way up and talked with a fellow in the ???? who turned out to be Frankie Williams cousin. reached Cardiff about 11 & saw Graham Hughes. Strolled around and had a cup of tea in a cafe. met Ivor at 12 as arranged & went to have some sandwhiches. Back to dressing rooms to report for forwards meeting, but couldn't do much. started changing at 1.30 and off to field at 2.30. Introduced to Premier of New Zealand Mr Peter Fraser and General Freyburg V.C. Wales kicked off. Just missed 2 pen goals in first quarter of an hour by a hairs breath. Half time 0 - 0 and we had their run but a hard game so far. Finished up 11-3 after a faulty kick by our full back , Sherratt their wing catching the ball & scoring between the posts. They then had two penalty kicks  kick on knee. Had lunch in club room & had autographs. Gave my address to C A Meates their wing. Home by 6 train. Bed early."

match programme pasted into journal

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Ken Hardwicke 

The majority of rugby players in Wales were manual workers, heavy industry and mining were the major employers. Conditions were harsh, all men in these industries run the risk of injury or even death. Ken Hardwicke a colleague of Rees' at Neath paid the ultimate price at the colliery in which he worked.

"Friday February 15th 1946      ........................ when I got down heard some terrible news which seemed incredible. Young Ken Hardwicke our wing three-quarter had been fatally injured at a local colliery and it knocked the stuffing out of me & all the rest of the boys. Saw Harold Parker in the evening and talked over it. He is a reserve for next Saturday's game. Bed Early." 

Rees has then pasted a photo of the Neath team that faced the Kiwis into his journal.

"Saturday February 16th 1946 - Up colliery in morning & did some homework. Down about 12 & had food & off to field where we play Llanelly. All the players felt it about young Ken & all of us had white armbands around our jersey and all stood for 2 mins on the field before the kick off. Good game to watch and all the forwards and backs played well - something like the Kiwis - slinging the ball about and playing open football - we won 25 - 9, in the last 3 games we have scored 92 pts to 12 against. Had a nasty kick on the knee - limping most of the game - should really have come off - After the game had a massage with Thomas & stayed in the rest of the evening so didn't see Tom or Frank. Had another rub with Tom about 9. Cardiff lost their record to Newport 7 - 3"

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HAYDN FORD 

Local artist Haydn Ford has caricatures adorning the walls of nearly every rugby club in the area. This is a booklet published in the 1950s which contains caricatures of Welsh rugby personalities, the proceeds of the booklet went towards the building of the YMCA in Neath, a stone's throw from the Gnoll. The introduction is by Billy Thomas MBE, further information on this great Neath character can by found in Mike Price's history on the Neath RFC website. Hadyn also published a similar booklet with caricatures of the 1948 Australian cricket tourists.

Ivor David, referee, Courtney Meredith & Roy John, Brian Sparks & Dai Meredith.

A comedy of errors unfurled at the Talbot Athletic ground as the combined team were thrashed soundly by an awesome Springbok midweek side. The opening act saw the Springboks jog around while the national anthem was played. Unfortunately for the organising committee the wrong song had been played, instead of the anthem "Sarie Marie" a delightful South African ditty came over the loudspeakers. The South Wales Echo reported "It was rather as if the serried ranks at Twickenham were upstanding whilst Pretty Polly Perkins of Paddington Green was being played. Not to be outdone one member of the team much to his amusement found that on tackling Ryk van Schoor he was left with a pair of shorts in his grasp while the cheeky Rhodesian tobacco farmer sprinted almost the length of the field to the howling laughter of the crowd. There was not much fun for the home team during the rest of the afternoon as Springbok wing Marais ran in three tries for the tourists. Almost the same team were to go on one week later to run up a record score against Scotland 44 - 0.  (WRM-221/187)

NEATH RFC 1989/90

Arguably, Neath’s greatest side was the 1989/90 side led by Kevin Phillips that won the WRU Cup, the Western Mail championship (Neath’s 10^th such success), the Whitbread Merit Table and Anglo-Welsh Pennant.

The Welsh All Blacks carried virtually all before them. Only Bath (when Neath were depleted due to Wales calls), Llanelli and then world champions New Zealand lowered Neath’s colours.

The rugby produced by Neath was simply awesome. In two games fewer, they just failed to emulate the world record-breaking feats of the previous year’s side of 1,917 points and 345 tries. Those world records still stand but the 1989/90 side got within 50 points (1,866) and one try (344) of their immediate predecessors. The points record might well have tumbled had not injury restricted Paul Thorburn to 205 points for the season but outside-half Paul Williams compensated with 284 including 17 tries. Jason Ball scored 136 points including 21 tries while his brother-in-law to be Colin Laity got 16 tries.

Alan Edmunds clocked up a remarkable 45 tries and came as close as anyone ever has to beating Dan Jones’ record of 59 Neath tries (73 in all games) in 1928/29. Rupert Moon scored 30 (5 at Maesteg) despite sharing the No.9 shirt with Chris Bridges (13). Allan Bateman got 22 tries while fellow backs Chris Higgs (12) and Jonathan Griffiths (10) also figured regularly on the score-sheet. Of the forwards, Rowland Phillips bagged 16 and Mark Jones 13 while front-rowers Andrew Thomas (12) and prop David Joseph (11 including two hat-tricks) figured heavily too.

No fewer than 10 players were capped by Wales during the season : Paul Thorburn, Allan Bateman, Alan Edmunds, Brian Williams, Kevin Phillips, Jeremy Pugh, Gareth Llewellyn, Phil Pugh, Martyn Morris and Mark Jones while Chris Bridges and Glyn Llewellyn won their first caps on the summer tour to Namibia .

Reserve strength was crucial – internationals like Adrian Davies, Rupert Moon, Jeremy Pugh, John Davies, Gareth Llewellyn, Derwyn Jones, Lyn Jones, David Pickering and Phil Pugh did not make the Cup final XV. Neither did wonderful players like Graham Davies, Mike Whitson, Paul Jackson, Lloyd Isaac and Adrian Varney.

No wonder many consider it Neath’s finest team of all time – it really was a remarkable squad !