Graham Price MBE (born 24 November 1951 in Moascar, Egypt) is a former Welsh

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player, who was a member of the famous Pontypool RFC front row known as the "Viet Gwent". He won 41 caps for , and a record 12 for the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

as a prop forward.

Early life

Graham Price was born in Moascar, Egypt, on 24 November 1951. He was brought up in

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 ...

, where he was educated at West Monmouth School. He studied civil engineering at UWIST, part of the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

Rugby career

Pontypool

He joined

after leaving school, and played at tight-head prop. With

Bobby Windsor Robert William Windsor (born 31 January 1948 in Newport, Monmouthshire), known as Bobby and nicknamed "The Duke", is a former rugby union player who gained 28 rugby union caps for Wales as a hooker between 1973 and 1979. Windsor published his au ...

and

Charlie Faulkner Anthony George "Charlie" Faulkner (born 27 February 1941, in Newport, Wales)Charlie Faulkner player p ...

he became part of the legendary front row, also known as the "Viet Gwent" (a play on

Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

) and immortalised in song by

Max Boyce Maxwell Boyce, (born 27 September 1943) is a Welsh comedian, singer and entertainer. He rose to fame in the mid-1970s with an act that combined musical comedy with his passion for rugby union and his origins in a South Wales mining community. B ...

Wales caps

He made his debut for

Wales national rugby union team The Wales national rugby union team ( cy, Tîm rygbi'r undeb cenedlaethol Cymru) represents Wales in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played the ...

in the

1975 Five Nations Championship The 1975 Five Nations Championship was the forty-sixth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the eighty-first series of the northern hemisphere rugby ...

against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

at the Parc des Princes in Paris. The game featured six players earning their first cap, and the entire Pontypool front line. When the ball was hacked forward some from the French line following a Welsh counter attack, Price caught the ball as it bounced and ran it in for a try. Wales won by 25–10, their biggest victory over the French since 1909, and the try was subsequently voted the fourth best try ever by a Welsh player. The BBC’s commentator of the match Nigel Starmer-Smith memorably said of Price’s try at the time ‘They will never believe it in Pontypool’. Grand Slams followed for the Wales team in 1976 and 1978.

British Lion

Price played as a prop in a record 12 successive tests for the

, touring New Zealand in 1977. The front line in that tour was dominated by the "Viet Gwent" players, including Price. During a test match against Australia, he suffered a broken jaw after a punch by Steve Finanne. Price had to eat liquidised food for six weeks, and wore dentures for the following 40 years until replaced by implants in 2015. He returned for the South Africa in 1980 and made his final international appearances in the New Zealand in 1983 at the age of 31. He had played in every match of all three tours. His record of 12 appearances for a prop for the British and Irish Lions is not expected to be broken.

Outside rugby

In 2012 Price made a cameo appearance as himself in an episode of the UK comedy drama ''

Stella Stella or STELLA may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media Comedy *Stella (comedy group), a comedy troupe consisting of Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain Characters *Stella (given name), including a list of characters with th ...

''.

Recognition

Price was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in the

2007 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2007 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 17 June 2007, to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2007.Antigua & Barbuda list: The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and ...

for services to rugby union in Wales.United Kingdom list: