THE Six Nations is a time when Wales comes together united in the support of the national team. Whether someone is a dedicated fan of the sport, watching club, region and internationals or just dips into the international games, it brings a lot of pride to the country.
Since Wales’ first match – a disastrous loss to England – in 1881, there have been 1,184 players to represent their country, with a number from the Llandovery, Swansea Valley, Tywi Valley and Amman Valley areas.
Here we take a look at some of those from the region who have represented our country at the highest level.
Edward John Lewis
Edward John Lewis was born on December 5, 1859, in Llandovery and is the joint first person from the town to be capped for Wales.
He studied at Llandovery College before going on to Christ’s College in Cambridge where he became a doctor, graduating in 1887.
A promising half-back, he played for Llandovery College and made one appearance for Wales on February 19, 1881, having the honour of playing in Wales’ first ever international in the thrashing against England. He was injured in the first 10 minutes of the game and left the field before the final whistle. Like most of the players in that game, he never played for his country again.
Aneurin Rees
Aneurin Rees was born on April 9, 1858, as Theophilus Aneurin Rees, in Tonn, Llandovery. He, along with Edward Lewis, is the joint first person from Llandovery to be capped for Wales.
He was educated at Llandovery College before going on to Sherborne School and Oxford’s Jesus College.
In 1890, he became a solicitor and in 1901 was clerk to the Merthyr Urban District Council. He later became town clerk.
He made his sole Welsh appearance against England on February 19, 1881, in the first ever Welsh international. It was a disastrous game for the Welsh. When the Welsh Rugby Union was formed a month later, he represented west Wales alongside Swansea’s Ray Knill.
Gareth Edwards (Gwaun Cae Gurwen)
Sir Gareth Owen Edwards was born in July 12, 1947, in Gwaun Cae Gurwen. He played scrum half and has been named as one of the greatest players of all time, being highly regarded by Welsh fans as well as many other rugby fans across the globe.
He went to Pontardawe Technical School for Boys and won a scholarship to Millfield Public School in Somerset. He played for Cardiff RFC for 12 seasons, making his debut in 1966. He played 195 times and scored 69 tries.
He made his debut for Wales on April 1, 1967, when he faced France in the Five Nations Championship at the age of 19. He won 53 caps for Wales between his debut and 1978. All the caps were won in succession as he was fortunate to avoid injuries or dips in form that could have cost him his place in the squad.
He captained Wales 13 times, becoming Wales’ youngest captain when he led the side in February 1968 against Scotland at just 20. He scored 20 tries for Wales.
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In 1969, he was named player of the year in Wales.
Gareth won the Five Nations Championship and is a member of the club of Welsh players to win three Grand Slams – he is joined by Gerald Davies, JPR Williams, Ryan Jones, Adam Jones, Gethin Jenkins and Alun Wyn Jones.
In 1971, he was part of the British and Irish Lions team that won a test series in New Zealand and in the unbeaten 1974 team that toured South Africa. In total, he represented the Lions 10 times.
In 1973, he played for the Barbarians against New Zealand at Cardiff Arms Park, scoring one of the most memorable tries in history. It is referred to as ‘that try’.
He was named BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year in 1974.
His final Wales match was on March 18, 1978, against France in the Five Nations Championship – which was also his final Grand Slam win. He was named Rothmans Player of the Year that same year.
During his lifetime he played for Cardiff College, Wales Secondary Schools, East Wales, Barbarians invitational team, Wolfhounds, Irish President XV, World XV, the combined England and Wales against Scotland and Ireland, first Wales Sevens team and for the RAF on a tour in Cyprus.
In the 1975 Birthday Honours, he was made MBE for services to Welsh rugby football, in 2007 New Year Honours he was promoted to CBE for services to sport, particularly rugby, and in 2015, he was knighted for services to sport and for charitable services.
In 1997 he was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, one of the first 15 past players to be included.
He had a stint as a team captain on A Question of Sport, has commentated on rugby for the BBC and S4C and was a director at Cardiff Blues among a host of other positions since his retirement from playing.
There is a plaque in Rugby commemorating him as well as a statue in St David’s Centre in Cardiff.
Justin Tipuric (Alltwen)
Justin Tipuric was born on August 6, 1989, and grew up in Trebanos. He went to school at Pontardawe's Cwmtawe Comprehensive School.
He played for Aberavon RFC before making his Ospreys debut in November 2009 – he would go on to captain the region in the 2018/19 season.
He represented Wales at U18 and U20 level, scoring eight tries in 18 appearances in the latter. Six of those tries were during the 2009 Junior World Cup in Japan. He played for Wales Sevens on the HSBC Sevens circuit and for Wales in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
He made his debut in the 2011 pre-World Cup friendly against Argentina as a replacement but was left out of the squad for the actual World Cup. But he would don the Wales shirt later that year in a late friendly against Australia.
He would feature in the 2012 Six Nations as a replacement against Ireland and starting against Italy, making him a Grand Slam winner in his first championship campaign. He played two of the three tests against Australia that summer and featured in the 2013 Six Nations where Wales won a second championship in a row.
He went to Australia for the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour where he came on as a replacement in the final test to earn a Lions cap. He featured in nine other matches on the tour including against the Barbarians.
His form has been consistent throughout his career and he has been a mainstay in the Wales squad throughout the late 2010s. In 2015 he played in all five fixtures for Wales, scoring a try in the win against Uruguay. That was his third successive international appearance with a try after he scored in both warm up fixtures against Ireland – with the first try being nominated for World Rugby Try of the Year.
Justin has captained the Welsh squad during his time playing for Wales and at the time of writing (February 10, 2023) he has made 90 appearances and scored 11 tries.
Major Brinley Lewis
Bryn Lewis was born on January 4, 1891, in Pontardawe and played rugby for Newport and Cambridge University.
He represented the Wales Schoolboy team and played in three consecutive Varsity games for Cambridge against Oxford.
He was capped for Wales for the first time against Ireland in the 1912 Five Nations Championship. He played in the 1913 Championship against Ireland for his second and final cap. He scored two tries. He served during the First World War as a Major in B Battery, 122nd Brigade of the 38th Welsh Infantry Division. He was killed on April 2, 1917 in Ypres.
We will look at more of the region's players next week.
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