Tom Arthur (10 January 1906 – 1 November 1986) 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 ...

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 ...

lock who played club rugby for

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a po ...

and was capped 18 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 ...

.Tom Arthur
Welsh Rugby Union A tough second row forward with a strong physique, Arthur was often criticised for being over-vigorous. Though his style of play was fairly typical for Welsh rugby at the time. Arthur was also a strong scummager and was adaptable in the open and was excellent in the line-out. His signature move was his line-out 'flip', where he would grab the ball one handed and guide it to his waiting scrum-half.

International rugby career

Arthur joined Neath from

Glynneath RFC Glynneath RFC are a Welsh Rugby Union club playing in WRU Division 1 West Central of the WRU National Leagues. The Club has won a number of honours over the years, including the locally famous Invincibles of the 1961–62 season captained by Bas ...

in 1923, and made his debut for the club in a game against

Pontypool Pontypool ( cy, Pont-y-pŵl ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales. It has a population of 28,970. Location It is situated on the Afon Lwyd ri ...

in December that year. After consistent good play for Neath, he showed promise in Welsh trials and was selected to the national squad in 1927 to face Scotland as part of the

Five Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

. Wales lost the game, but Arthur was reselected to face both France and Ireland in the later stages of the same tournament. The Welsh forwards were terrible in the game against Ireland and their eight-man pack was outclassed by the seven man Irish pack. Arthur was dropped for the next season, but after an outstanding Neath season, he was back for the

1929 Five Nations Championship The 1929 Five Nations Championship was the fifteenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the forty-se ...

. Arthur was well known for his aggressive style of play, and this was shown in two matches against in France. In 1929, Arthur scored a try for Wales at the

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British E ...

and three French players were knocked out in the tackle to save the try. The next year at a game at the Stade Colombes, the mood and the match turned nasty with the French using fist and boot to subdue the Welsh team. The trouble started when Welsh full back Tommy Scourfield cleared a loose ball to touch only for the chasing French player to run over and punch him. Arthur and fellow second row, Aberavon's

Ned Jenkins Ned Jenkins (28 July 1904 – 8 November 1990) was an international rugby union lock who represented Wales and played club rugby for Aberavon. Like teammate Tom Arthur, Jenkins was an amateur boxer. Rugby career Jenkins joined Aberavon in 1925 a ...

had to pack down in the front row due to the oversized French props, and after one scrummage, Welsh hooker

Bert Day Hubert Charles Day (8 May 1908 – 27 June 1977) was a rugby hooker who played rugby union for Newport and rugby league for Salford. He was awarded five caps for Wales under union rules and was part of the Welsh side that won the 1931 Five Na ...

was kicked in the mouth by a French lock and required nine stitches. Arthur retaliated on the French pack, but mistook one of the props for the offending lock. This escalated into running fist fights throughout the match, and when Wales left the pitch, they were pelted by rubber cushions from the crowd. In 1931 Arthur was capped to face the touring South Africans. He had been part of the joint Neath / Aberavon team that had faced the Springboks at the Gnoll in November. The tourist were lucky to win the match after a dubious last minute try, and when Arthur was picked for Wales he did so with two other players from the same match, Ned Jenkins and

Arthur Lemon Arthur Whitelock Lemon (15 April 1905 – 28 May 1982) was a Welsh international number 8 who played club rugby for Neath and was capped 13 times for Wales, then later switched codes to play rugby league for St Helens when he found that he had ...

. Although he was dropped for the 1932 season, Arthur was back for the

1933 Home Nations Championship The 1933 Home Nations Championship was the twenty-ninth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Five Nations, and prior to that, the Home Nations, this was the forty-sixth series of the nort ...

, playing against England and Scotland.

International matches played

Wales * 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933 * 1927, 1929, 1930, 1931 * 1927, 1929, 1930, 1931 * 1927, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933 * 1931

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arthur, Tom 1906 births 1986 deaths Glamorgan Police RFC players Glynneath RFC players Neath RFC players Rugby union players from Pontypridd Rugby union locks Wales international rugby union players Welsh police officers Welsh rugby union players category:Glamorgan Police officers