Brian Thomas (18 May 1940 – 9 July 2012) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

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 ...

lock, most notable for his time playing for and later managing

Neath RFC Neath Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Castell-Nedd) is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the WRU Championship. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The team is known as the All Blacks because of the team colours: black with onl ...

. He was capped for

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 ...

21 times between 1964 and 1969 and was part of three Five Nations winning teams.

Rugby career

Thomas played rugby as a school boy, and was selected to represent his country for the Welsh Secondary Schools side. On leaving Neath Grammar School, he matriculated to Cambridge University, where he was selected for the University team, and won three sporting 'Blues' playing in

the Varsity Match The Varsity Match is an annual rugby union fixture played between the universities of Oxford University RFC, Oxford and Cambridge University R.U.F.C., Cambridge in England. The event began in 1872 with the first men's match, with interruptions ...

in 1960, 1961 and 1962. During his time back in Wales, away from College, he represented his local team Neath, and faced the touring South African team of 1961 as part of a joint

Aberavon Aberavon ( cy, Aberafan) is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a distri ...

/ Neath side. On leaving Cambridge he returned to Neath where he became an integral member of the Neath team. At the age of 22, he was selected for his first full international cap when he was chosen to represent Wales against England as part of the

1963 Five Nations Championship The 1963 Five Nations Championship was the thirty-fourth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the sixty-ninth series of the northern hemisphere rugb ...

. Thomas went on to represent Wales 21 times between 1963 and 1969, each of his caps won as a Neath player, his only senior club. He toured twice with Wales, in 1964 to South Africa, playing in all four games, and in 1969 to Australasia and Fiji. While at Neath he captained them for two seasons between 1966 and 1968. In 1981 Thomas became the team manager of Neath, and during that time he led them to five club titles, as Welsh Club Champions in 1986/87, 1988/89 and 1989/90, then as the winners of

Welsh Premier Division The Welsh Premier Division, () known for sponsorship reasons as the Indigo Group Premiership, (''Uwch Gynghrair grŵp indigo'') is a rugby union league in Wales first implemented by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) for the 1990–91 season. Compe ...

in 1990/91 and 1995/96. In his 1989 book ''The Rugby Clubs of Wales'',

David Parry-Jones David Parry-Jones (25 September 1933 – 10 April 2017) was a Welsh sports commentator, TV current affairs presenter and writer. He presented ''BBC Wales Today'' for many years and was a rugby analyst for BBC Radio 5. He was the author of bo ...

describes' Thomas as bringing a "fresh dimension to the tradition of tough, closely concentrated forward play" who was able to "attract and mould distant talent which might otherwise have found its way into other clubs". Thomas was father-in-law to Wales international Rowland Phillips and Neath flanker Robin Jones. He was the grandfather of Swansea second-row Jack Jones.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Brian 1940 births 2012 deaths Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players Neath RFC players People educated at Neath Grammar School for Boys Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Neath Wales international rugby union players Welsh rugby union coaches Welsh rugby union players