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Cardiff's contribution to the Lions
John GriffithsOctober 22, 2014
Which club has provided the Lions with most fly-halves? GAH, England
The original Cardiff club (ie before the Welsh regional franchises came into existence) provided six Lions fly-halves, starting with Percy Bush who was one of the tourists' star attractions on the 1904 tour to Australia and New Zealand. He played in all three of the Tests against Australia and in the one-off against New Zealand in Wellington that year - the first time the Lions and All Blacks met.
Between the wars the club was represented by Harry Bowcott as one of the fly-halves in New Zealand and Australia in 1930. England's Roger Spong filled the pivot position in the four Tests against the All Blacks and the Test against Australia, but Bowcott was too valuable to leave out of the team and was accommodated as a centre for the five internationals.
A similar fate befell the versatile Billy Cleaver Down Under in 1950. After spearheading Wales to the Grand Slam that season, the Cardiff fly-half went on tour as a utility back and appeared as a full-back against New Zealand in the opening three Tests of the tour.
Cliff Morgan (1955 in South Africa) and Barry John (1968 in South Africa and 1971 in Australia and New Zealand) were first-choice fly-halves for the Lions, though John had to stand down from the last three Tests of the 1968 series after sustaining a broken collar-bone in a heavy tackle in the opening match of that rubber.
The last Lions fly-half from Cardiff before the professional era brought a reorganisation of club rugby in Wales was Gareth Davies, who toured South Africa with the class of 1980. He missed many of the early tour matches through a shoulder injury but started at #10 in the second Test at Bloemfontein, only to succumb to a second-half knee injury that brought a premature end to his tour.
John Griffiths is a widely respected rugby historian and is the author of several sports books, a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and co-author of the IRB International Rugby Yearbook. He has provided insight for Scrum.com since 1999.
