Brinley "Bryn" Victor Meredith
Scrum.com (born 21 October 1930 in

Abersychan Abersychan is a town and community (Wales), community north of Pontypool in Torfaen, Wales, and lies within the boundaries of the Monmouthshire (historic), historic county of Monmouthshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county o ...

) was a

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 ...

international. Meredith was a mobile hooker, he was selected 34 times 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 ...

between 1954 and 1962, but missed 2 matches for health and family bereavement reasons.

British Lion

In 1955 he was part of the British Lions

tour of South Africa The Tour of South Africa was a stage cycling race in South Africa that was only held once, in 2011. It was part of UCI Africa Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by th ...

, in which the British tourists shared the Test series against South Africa 2-2 and Meredith scored his record six tries, including the pick of the second international in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. The Lions lost, but their hooker enhanced his reputation by winning a crucial strike in the scrum and then having the pace to get himself among the three-quarters and pop up outside centre Phil Davies to take a scoring pass. On the 1955 Lions Tour the all-Welsh front row of Billy Williams, Bryn Meredith and

Courtney Meredith Courtenay Meredith (born 23 September 1926) was a Welsh international rugby union prop who played club rugby for Neath. He won fourteen caps for Wales and also played for invitational club the Barbarians. Meredith was a powerful prop, and was muc ...

was selected for a Lions test match. This did not occur again until June 2009 when

Gethin Jenkins Gethin Jenkins (born 17 November 1980) is a Welsh former rugby union player. He won 129 international caps for Wales and five for the British & Irish Lions. Jenkins was the record cap holder for Wales until he was overtaken by Alun Wyn Jones on ...

, Adam Jones and

Matthew Rees Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the ...

were selected as the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

front row for the 2nd Test against South Africa. In 1959, Meredith was a Lion again, but found himself in the unfortunate position of competing against tour captain Ronnie Dawson for a place in the Test team. Consequently, he finished as the only Lion not to appear in an international, although many judges felt he should have been selected for the final match of the series. Captaincy of the team against the Junior All Blacks was a small consolation, but he never complained about his lot and even appeared as a flanker when injuries demanded on the Australian leg of the tour. In 1962, Meredith was a live candidate for the tour captaincy himself, and although he missed out to Arthur Smith he added to his reputation in South Africa once more with another excellent tour capped by appearances in all four Tests. He retired at the end of that tour, having played eight Tests for the Lions. He was voted his country's sportsman of the year in his final season.

Club career

Meredith played his club rugby for

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain) was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, ...

and Newport. He is generally considered to be one of the finest forwards of all time, and is almost obligatorily found in selections of "the greatest Welsh Rugby Teams of all time".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meredith, Bryn 1930 births Living people Alumni of the University of Exeter Barbarian F.C. players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Wales Devonport Services R.F.C. players London Welsh RFC players Newport RFC players People educated at West Monmouth School Rugby union hookers Rugby union players from Abersychan Wales international rugby union players Wales rugby union captains Welsh rugby union players