style of play exhibited by the Lions as by their undoubted social charms.
‘It was all arranged beforehand,’ revealed Bleddyn Williams some 58 years later. ‘We threw the ball about because we all agreed that we wanted to entertain the people who came to see us, and we felt we did that.’
The appreciation of the backs in particular was shown by the fact that Kyle and Jones were named as two of the five players of the year by the Rugby Almanack of New Zealand. Due to injuries, other backs distinguished themselves in unaccustomed roles, with Scottish fly-half or centre Ranald Macdonald making an impact as a winger.
Sadly, however, the results of the Test Matches against New Zealand brought only a small degree of contentment to the Lions. Having started off with three easy victories, the Lions were humbled in the first two difficult provincial games against Otago and Southland, before travelling to Dunedin for the first Test. The match against Otago in particular saw the Lions come up against that province’s fierce rucking game that was to become such a feature of rugby in the land of the long white cloud.
A hard fought and highly creditable draw in Dunedin, where the Lions led until late in the game only for New Zealand captain Roy Elvidge to score a converted try, was followed by three defeats to give the All Blacks another series victory. The second Test was lost 0–8 in Christchurch, where the Lions were reduced to 14 men when flanker Billy McKay was forced off with a broken nose and concussion. McKay was obviously a forgiving sort—he liked New Zealand so much that he emigrated there after qualifying as a doctor.
Scores of 3–6 in Wellington and 8–11 in Auckland show just how close the Lions came to matching their opponents, especially in the latter Test. Bleddyn Williams still recalls the best try of the tour in that match.
We were 11–3 down and right on our goal line when I said to Jack Kyle, the finest fly-half I ever played with, to get the ball out quickly as we were going to run it. The ball went from Rex Willis to Kyle but it never reached me because behind me was Lewis Jones who nipped in and intercepted it, running up to their full-back and passing to Ken Jones and we scored at the other end of the field. Fred Allen, who later coached the All Blacks, says to this day that it’s the best try they have ever seen at Auckland.
From the kick-off I nearly scored a try but Peter Henderson, who was an Olympic runner like Ken Jones, caught me and pinned my arms in the tackle. He later told me it was the best tackle he had ever made.
The All Blacks themselves had been whitewashed 3–0 by South Africa the previous year—so how good did that make the Springboks? The Lions would have to wait five years to find out.
By common consent, the problem for the 1950 Lions was that, apart from the first Test, their forwards could never quite match the All Blacks in gaining and keeping possession. Perhaps only Roy John of Neath, Ireland’s Jimmy Nelson and Peter Kininmonth of Scotland were physically able to compete with the opposition in the Tests.
Some observers say that had the superb Lions backs been matched with New Zealand’s forwards, it would have created a dream team the like of which had not been seen in world rugby. As it was, those peerless backs Kyle, Matthews, Williams and Jones had to make do with considerably less possession than their opposite numbers.
The results from that period in New Zealand show that when the Lions backs got plenty of possession against the lesser provincial sides, such as Wanganui and Taranaki, they scored a barrowload of points, winning 31–3 and 25–3 respectively against these two sides. Indeed, the Lions won every non-Test Match after their defeat by Southland. Against the mighty rucking pack of the All Blacks, however, they were forced into defensive duties in the main, and though they usually coped admirably, no side on the back foot can hope to keep out New Zealand permanently.
‘We did play good rugby,’ recalled Matthews. ‘I was lucky enough and fit enough to play in all six Tests, and there were all these good players around me. We only just lost the series against the All Blacks by a few points over the course of the four games, and I’ve had many letters from New Zealand saying that our 1950 Lions were the best rugby-playing side that ever went there.’
Waving a fond farewell to their conquerors, the Lions moved on to Australia where again the hosts were magnificently hospitable and the rugby was rather less difficult. The backs feasted on much greater possession and ran in a total of 150 points in 6 matches.
The first Test in Brisbane was comfortably won by 19–6, with Lewis Jones scoring 16 points with a personal ‘grand slam’—all the possible scores of a try, conversion, drop goal and penalty featured in his haul. The second Test in Sydney was even easier, with a scoreline of 24–3 in favour of the Lions.
Their Australian copybook was blotted, however, with a lacklustre performance in the final match against a New South Wales XV who surprisingly won 17–12. Perhaps all those long days of travelling, not to mention the hospitality Down Under, had taken its toll.
Despite the final setback and the losses in New Zealand, the tour was judged a massive success, not least because the Lions had boosted the public image of the sport.
Karl Mullen’s words at the start of the tour summed up his squad’s approach and resonate down to us today as embodying the proper creed of the Lions: ‘We are not after records of matches played and won. We want to see the game played for the game’s sake and to give you good football. We will be only too happy if you beat us in a good football match.’ Sadly, not too many coaches and captains would dare to utter such sentiments in our winner-takes-all society of today.
Bleddyn Williams and many of his band of Welsh colleagues from that 1950 tour eventually did gain a measure of revenge over New Zealand, Wales beating the All Blacks during their tour of the northern hemisphere in 1953. Some 54 years later, he remains the last Welsh captain to have led his men to victory over the All Blacks. Williams would later become a company director and wrote on rugby for The People newspaper for 32 years as well as making countless broadcasts.
To their credit, both Williams and Matthews and their fellow Lions never turned their back on the Welsh Golden Boy, Lewis Jones, who committed the Great Sin of signing up as a professional less than two years after the Lions tour, joining Leeds for a then record fee of £6,000. Immediately ostracized by rugby union, Jones was was banned from having any contact with all clubs worldwide—he could not even buy a drink in a clubhouse for fear of ‘tainting’ a club. Many Welsh players and officials refused to speak to him, due more to fear of being expelled themselves rather than any personal animus against Jones.
His defection to rugby league at the age of 20 caused great controversy in Wales, particularly as he had been the Golden Boy of the sport. The headlines were blaring and most indicated that Jones’s decision had been a betrayal, though many pundits pointed out that his move had been inevitable given the fantastic money on offer.
The hypocrisy of the rugby authorities concerning professionalism was exposed as well. In those days, the very mention of being involved with rugby league scouts could see you declared persona non grata in Union circles, as Bleddyn Williams recounts: ‘It happened to George Parsons before the Victory International against France in 1947. He was kicked off the train while travelling to play for Wales because he was alleged to have been seen speaking to a rugby league scout. He eventually had to turn professional, and played almost 300 games for St Helen’s.’
The charge of hypocrisy arose from the fact that everybody in rugby union knew that it happened. Two of the 1950 tourists—Bleddyn Williams and Jack Matthews—are happy to admit that they discussed terms with rugby league clubs, though they eventually rejected offers. Williams said:
It happened during the war when I was about
