Louis Augustus Phillips (24 February 1878 – 14 March 1916) was a Welsh

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

player, who played half-back for

Newport RFC Newport Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Casnewydd) is a Welsh rugby union club based in the city of Newport, South Wales. They presently play in the Welsh Premier Division. Until 2021 Newport RFC were based at Rodney Parade situated on t ...

, and won four

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for . He was also a talented amateur

golfer Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

. Born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Phillips was educated at Monmouth Grammar School, leaving to become an architect. He played rugby at school and then at Newport, earning a place in the 1st XV after several players retired or defected to rugby league. He made 90 appearances for Newport, during which he developed a famous half-back partnership with

Llewellyn Lloyd George Llewellyn Lloyd (1877 – 1 August 1957) was a Welsh international half-back who played club rugby for Newport and county rugby with Kent. He won 12 caps for Wales and captained the team on one occasion against Scotland. Rugby career L ...

. His debut for Wales, playing alongside Lloyd, was against in 1900, when Wales won the

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. He earned selection again in 1901 but was forced to retire from rugby after incurring an injury playing . Phillips enlisted in the 20th (Service) Battalion

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

at the start of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was deployed to the Western Front in November 1915. He was shot dead while out on a

wiring party Wiring parties, (or wiring sappers, cutters), were used during World War I on the Western Front as an offensive countermeasure against the enemy’s barbed wire obstacles. Though hazardous and stressful duty, work was done at night to repair, imp ...

on the night of 14 March 1916, near

Cambrin Cambrin () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography A farming and light industrial village some east of Béthune and southwest of Lille, at the junction of the D166 and the N41 roads, by ...

, France.

Early life

Louis Augustus Phillips was born at Stow Hill, Newport,

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

on 24 February 1878. He was educated at Monmouth Grammar School. After serving his

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with Huberston and Fawkner,

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s, he began practising in 1907.

Rugby career

Phillips began playing rugby while at Monmouth Grammar School. He went on to play for

, earning selection for the first team in 1897. His first season at Newport was disappointing for the club, which lost seven games, after the previous six consecutive years of success. Several players had moved to Yorkshire to play

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 ...

, while others had married and retired. Nevertheless, Phillips was one of four new players in the team to 'make an impact', alongside

George Boots John George Boots (1874–1928) was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Newport and county rugby with Monmouthshire. He won 16 caps for Wales. Boots was seen as a consistent player with a superb positional sense ...

Jehoida Hodges Joseph Jehoida HodgesNewport Gwent Dragons player profiles
(15 July 1876 � ...

and

Reg Skrimshire Reginald Truscott Skrimshire (30 January 1878 – 20 September 1963) was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Newport and county rugby for Kent. He won three caps for Wales and was the only Welsh representative o ...

Half-back partnership with Llewellyn Lloyd

The 1897–8 season at Newport saw the beginning of a 'historic' partnership at half-back between Phillips and

that lasted till 1901. Phillips and Lloyd were thought of as a pair, both playing along similar lines and sharing the work of scrum-half and outside-half. While Lloyd was a smarter runner, Phillips was a better kick, but both of them could drop goals, and were remarkable in their kicks to touch. In the 1898–9 season, Newport suffered from further retirements: Boots and Phillips were the only 2 players to appear in all 24 matches of the season. During the following season, 1899–1900, with Lloyd as captain, the club was reinvigorated and scored 416 points compared with 192 in the previous season. Phillips and Lloyd were adjudged to be the half-back pair of the season at both club and international level, even if there were some more brilliant individuals. In total, Phillips appeared 90 times for Newport, scoring 9 tries, 2

drop goal A drop goal, field goal, or dropped goal is a method of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league and also, rarely, in American football and Canadian football. A drop goal is scored by drop kicking the ball (dropping the ball and then kicki ...

s and 1

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) A p ...

. Townsend Collins remarked: 'He had no tricks or subtleties, but he played the orthodox game of the day with supreme success.'

Wales

Phillips, who was a strong runner and tackled well, made his international debut for Wales against on 6 January 1900 at

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

. His initial selection was principally due to his partnership at Newport with Lloyd, who also made selection for Wales. Lloyd had already played in 1896 against Ireland, and against Scotland and Ireland in 1899. During the game, which Wales won 3–13, Phillips displayed 'special smartness' and used 'the acme of judgment' in his first international appearance, proving also to be a 'splendid defender'. He was reckoned to be amongst the best of the backs, and the combination with Lloyd was excellent. In the following match, against at Swansea on 27 January, the half-back partnership of Phillips and Lloyd continued to perform: their defensive play was 'sound', and in attack, Phillips' 'splendid' fielding and kicking to touch, matched Lloyd's 'cleverness' and 'dodging ability'. Wales was again victorious, 12–3. For the next game, away to at Belfast on 17 March, Lloyd was replaced by

Selwyn Biggs Selwyn Hanam Biggs (June 1872 – 12 January 1943) was a Welsh international rugby union fly-half who played club rugby for Cardiff and county rugby for Glamorgan. Both Biggs and his brother Norman played international rugby for Wales, though ...

of Cardiff. The half-back combination was not as good as with Lloyd but worked better than pundits had expected. The 0–3 victory over the Irish earned the Welsh the

. Phillips missed the opening match of the 1901 international season against England due to an injury to his knee: he was replaced at the last moment by

Bala Jones John "Bala" Jones was a Wales international rugby union scrum-half who played club rugby for Aberavon and Devonport Albion RFC and county rugby for Glamorgan and Devon. He won just a single international cap, in 1901. Rugby career There is li ...

Aberavon RFC Aberavon RFC ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Aberafan) is a rugby union club located in the Welsh town of Port Talbot, though the club's name refers to the older settlement of Aberavon which lies on the western side of the town. The club was founded in 1876 ...

. Thinking that he had recovered, Phillips was back for the following match, against Scotland on 9 February at Inverleith, but within ten minutes he was almost helpless. He played on, and 'his last match was a tragic end to a great if short career.' The Scottish half-backs,

Jimmy Gillespie John Imrie Gillespie (16 January 1879 – 5 December 1943), known as Jimmy Gillespie, was a Scottish international rugby union player, who played for and the Lions.Bath, p117Godwin, p164 Rugby Union career Amateur career At club level he ...

and Frank Fasson, outplayed Lloyd and Phillips, and prevented the Welsh backline from receiving much ball. Scotland beat Wales 18–8, and the Welsh defeat was blamed on the half-backs.

International appearances

Golf

In 1907 and again in 1912, Phillips was Welsh Amateur golf champion. He was also runner-up for the

Irish Amateur Open Championship The Irish Amateur Open Championship is an amateur golf tournament held annually in Ireland and organised by the Golf Ireland. The championship has been played as a 72-hole stroke-play event since 1958. Previously it was played as a match-play to ...

in 1913, and in the following year, 1914, he was beaten in the sixth round of

The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

. Phillips also represented the Wales golf team, facing Ireland in August 1913.

Military service and death

At the start of the

, Phillips enlisted in the 20th (Service) Battalion

, and after refusing a commission, served as a Sergeant. The 20th Royal Fusiliers was one of four battalions of the regiment raised in 1914 by the Public Schools and University Men’s Force. Phillips was deployed to France with his unit on 16 November 1915. On the night of 14 March 1916, while out on a

, he was shot through the chest and killed, near

, France. He is buried in Cambrin Churchyard Extension (Grave L1 10B).

References

Bibliography

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