Arthur Robert Smith (23 January 1933 – 3 February 1975) was a

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He played as a

Wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Originally from

Castle Douglas Castle Douglas ( gd, Caisteal Dhùghlais) is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies in the lieutenancy area of Kirkcudbrightshire, in the eastern part of Galloway, between the towns of Dalbeattie and Gatehouse of Fleet. It is in the ...

in Kirkcudbrightshire in Scotland, he graduated in mathematics at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

and then gained a PhD at

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He represented

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

in four Varsity Matches from 1954 to 1957 inclusive. It was at Cambridge that he came to flourish as a player.Massie, p. 146 Smith played for a number of sides including

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, London Scottish F C,

Gosforth Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of New ...

Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale (; cy, Glynebwy) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr con ...

Edinburgh Wanderers Edinburgh Wanderers is a former rugby union club, founded in 1868. It was latterly a tenant of the Scottish Rugby Union, playing home fixtures at Murrayfield Stadium for nearly 75 years. In 1997 it merged with Murrayfield RFC to form Murrayfiel ...

and

Barbarians FC The Barbarian Football Club, known as the Barbarians is a British-based invitational rugby union club. The Barbarians play in black and white hoops, though players wear socks from their own club strip. Membership is by invitation. As of 2011, p ...

(the latter on their famous 1957 Easter tour of Wales, when they beat

Cardiff RFC Cardiff Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Caerdydd) is a rugby union club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876Parry-Jones (1989), pg 59 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, shortly after ...

40-0). One of the clubs that Arthur played for was

, in Wales, and it is rumoured that having been selected by the British Lions that he played a game for Ebbw Vale under another name because Lions were banned for playing after Easter.

International career

He captained both

and the British Lions.Bath, p. 159 He won 33 caps for Scotland and was never dropped until his retirement in 1962, although he did miss the odd match due to injury.Massie, p. 145 He also became Scotland's captain, which is a rare honour for a winger. His debut was in 1955, a dark age for Scottish rugby, as the national team had just lost seventeen tests in a row. Smith helped to break this losing streak by scoring a try in a 35–10 defeat of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Inverleith Inverleith (Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Lìte'') is an inner suburb in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the fringes of the central region of the city. Its neighbours include Trinity to the north and the New Town to the south, with Canonmills a ...

, which was probably one of the biggest upsets in post-war rugby. Arthur Smith also captained the 1960 Scotland rugby union tour of South Africa, the first major tour undertaken by a Home Union, and scored eight points in Scotland's 18–10 loss. He was twice a British Lion, both times in South Africa (

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

and

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

). Smith did not play in any of the internationals against in 1955 but he captained the touring party in 1962 and played in the first three internationals before being forced to miss the final match through injury. Arthur Smith is also grandfather of Worcester Warriors and England u20 prospect Finlay Smit

(2021)

Profiles

Richard Bath writes of him that: :"''As well as possessing searing pace, the farmer's son from

Galloway Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. A native or i ...

also possessed great intellect and gained a first class degree in maths from

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

before completing his PhD at

- and all that while winning 33 caps for Scotland.''"

Allan Massie Allan Johnstone Massie (born 16 October 1938) is a Scottish journalist, columnist, sports writer and novelist. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has lived in the Scottish Borders for the last 25 years, and now lives in Se ...

writes of him that: :"''He was a natural rather than a schooled player, for in his youth he had played ssociationfootball, not Rugby; at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

he was better known as a

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

er than a Rugby player.''" :"''He was never a great improviser, like his contemporary

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

, and for this reason many would have put him in second place among the right wings of his time; and he was not the sort of wing who impressed by his brute force and determination. But he was still a deadly finisher. With the ball in hand his two chief devices were the swerve and the change of pace; I have seen no wing to better his control of pace, nor one with a nicer ability to leave an opposing wing or full-back clutching the air... He was always skilful and resourceful, very rarely prepared to let an attack die. He was a master of that now neglected ploy, the cross-kick, which placed the ball just behind the opposing defence for his forwards to run on to... Those of us who watched Arthur Smith have only to close our eyes to see him slip into top gear, like a thoroughbred racehorse. Nobody has ever worn the Number 14 jersey for Scotland since with quite the same authority.''" Sadly, Arthur Smith died of cancer less than ten years after playing his last international.Massie, p. 147

References

;Sources # Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ) # Massie, Allan ''A Portrait of Scottish Rugby'' (Polygon, Edinburgh; )

External links

Arthur Smith
(The Scotsman) {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Arthur 1933 births 1975 deaths Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Barbarian F.C. players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players Ebbw Vale RFC players Edinburgh Wanderers RFC players Glasgow University RFC players Rugby union players from Castle Douglas Rugby union wings Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players Newcastle Falcons players