Joseph Rees (3 June 1893 – 12 April 1950) was a Welsh 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 ...

full-back who played club rugby for

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

. Rees made his debut for Swansea in 1919 and captained his club in the 1922/23 season. Rees would play 12 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 ...

,WRU player profile
/ref> and captained them on one occasion. His brother, William "Billo" Rees, was a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played for Wales and the Great Britain team, and toured Australia.

International rugby career

In 1920 Rees was selected to play against England at St Helens. It was a ground-breaking game that saw Newport's

Jerry Shea Jeremiah Shea (12 August 1892 – 30 June 1947) was a Welsh international dual-code rugby centre who played club rugby for Newport and Pill Harriers under the rugby union code and later represented Wigan as a professional rugby league footb ...

score 16 points and become the first person to achieve an international rugby 'Full House', of all four scoring types. Rees played all four games in the

1920 Five Nations Championship The 1920 Five Nations Championship was the sixth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship, and the first played since the 1914 Games due to World War I. Including th ...

in which Wales won the competition. After playing three games in the 1921 tournament Rees was selected for the opening game in 1922 against England. During this game Rees scored his first points in a Welsh shirt when he converted two tries; though as Wales scored eight tries the return could have been better. Rees managed a penalty goal against France in 1923, which was the last score he would achieve for Wales . The next year, in his last game for Wales against England, Rees was given the captaincy of Wales. Wales lost the game 17–9.

International matches played

WalesSmith (1980), pg 471. * 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924 * 1920, 1923 * 1920, 1921, 1923 * 1920, 1921

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Joe 1893 births 1950 deaths Rugby union players from Swansea Welsh rugby union players Rugby union fullbacks Wales rugby union captains Swansea RFC players Ammanford RFC players Wales international rugby union players