Last weekend I traveled up to Neath to watch my son play in the above match to commemorate the life and playing career of a true legend of Neath rugby.
For those of you who have never heard of Neath, Buck Shelford at one of his after dinner speeches said that along with Llanelli, it was one of the hardest clubs he ever played against.
Taken from the match day programme - “ Brian won his Blue (3) at Cambridge and, as a “hard core” lock forward he won the first of his 21 caps for Wales against England in 1963 and the following season he scored an international try against Scotland in the Cardiff Arms Park mud. He toured South Africa in 1964 and New Zealand, Australia and Fiji in 1969 with Wales, But he was unaccountably overlooked for the 1966 Lions tour to New Zealand when it was reckoned he was considered “too confrontational” - my, how those vanquished Lions missed him in a 4 - nil Test series defeat!”
Cambridge University squad included 8 Blues from team who lost to Oxford before Christmas. Neath are going through a rebuilding process so the young team needed to be at the top of their game if they were to secure a win against the University
Top brass were there from WRU including Denis Gethin. After a minute’s round of applause a young Daniel Jones blew his whistle and the game kicked off in driving rain and strong winds.
Credit to both sides for producing a great game of rugby which Brian would have been proud of with Neath eventually won 29 - 5.
Full report can be found on http://www.neathrugby.co.uk/News/Article/32608
Everyone in the clubhouse afterwards were full of compliments about Daniel’s excellent refereeing of this game which included managing a good punch up between the two front 5’s! He is one to look out for in the future.
Brian’s friends and past Neath and Wales players included Brian Price, Paul Thorburn, Dai (The Shadow) Morris, Ron Waldron, Dai Parker, Alan Bateman etc.
Tony Lewis - Glamorgan, England and Sky Cricket Pundit said a few words and recounted how he and Brian set off for Cambridge on the train when Brian was 19 and how they became great friends over the years.
I thoroughly enjoyed the match and being in the company of men who played this great game for little financial reward and went to work on Monday down the local pit or managing the local steelworks.
For those of you who have never heard of Neath, Buck Shelford at one of his after dinner speeches said that along with Llanelli, it was one of the hardest clubs he ever played against.
Taken from the match day programme - “ Brian won his Blue (3) at Cambridge and, as a “hard core” lock forward he won the first of his 21 caps for Wales against England in 1963 and the following season he scored an international try against Scotland in the Cardiff Arms Park mud. He toured South Africa in 1964 and New Zealand, Australia and Fiji in 1969 with Wales, But he was unaccountably overlooked for the 1966 Lions tour to New Zealand when it was reckoned he was considered “too confrontational” - my, how those vanquished Lions missed him in a 4 - nil Test series defeat!”
Cambridge University squad included 8 Blues from team who lost to Oxford before Christmas. Neath are going through a rebuilding process so the young team needed to be at the top of their game if they were to secure a win against the University
Top brass were there from WRU including Denis Gethin. After a minute’s round of applause a young Daniel Jones blew his whistle and the game kicked off in driving rain and strong winds.
Credit to both sides for producing a great game of rugby which Brian would have been proud of with Neath eventually won 29 - 5.
Full report can be found on http://www.neathrugby.co.uk/News/Article/32608
Everyone in the clubhouse afterwards were full of compliments about Daniel’s excellent refereeing of this game which included managing a good punch up between the two front 5’s! He is one to look out for in the future.
Brian’s friends and past Neath and Wales players included Brian Price, Paul Thorburn, Dai (The Shadow) Morris, Ron Waldron, Dai Parker, Alan Bateman etc.
Tony Lewis - Glamorgan, England and Sky Cricket Pundit said a few words and recounted how he and Brian set off for Cambridge on the train when Brian was 19 and how they became great friends over the years.
I thoroughly enjoyed the match and being in the company of men who played this great game for little financial reward and went to work on Monday down the local pit or managing the local steelworks.
