Following the articles last year documenting AOE's England connections, this focusses on our Welsh International connections. Whilst we were able to generate 6 England connections, I have only managed to find one Welsh one - which may indicate how much harder it is to gain Welsh International recognition !!

In the Clubhouse is a cabinet displaying a Lancashire County Shirt, a Welsh International shirt, and a Welsh International Cap. These were donated to AOE by Watcyn Thomas, a former Schoolmaster at KEGS Aston, and player for AOE.

Watcyn Thomas was born in Llanelli in 1906 and educated at Llanelli County School and at University College, Swansea. While still at school he was the first captain of the newly-formed Welsh Secondary Schools XV in 1924. He then joined Llanelli RFC, moving to Swansea in December 1927. A teacher by profession, he moved to St Helens to teach at Cowley Grammar School in 1929, and played rugby for Waterloo and Lancashire, captaining Lancashire to the County Championship in 1934-35.

In 1926 Thomas was part of the Llanelli side to face the New Zealand Maori. The 1926-27 touring side, captained by Walter Barclay, is still considered by rugby historians to be the best ever Maori team. The match against Llanelli was one of the few defeats suffered by the Maoris. It took place on November 13, 1926, Llanelli winning 3-0 through a try scored by Sid Hay.

The build-up to the match against the New Zealand Maoris was not encouraging, with the club losing more matches (in the season) than they won. However, Llanelli rose magnificently to the occasion, repeating their triumph against the 1888 Maoris as a result of a try scored by right wing Sid Hay (in those days a try was worth three points).

The Maoris had already drawn with Newport and defeated both Swansea and Cardiff. When the teams fielded, it looked as if the Maoris did not intend to give their war-cry, but Albert Jenkins spoke to them and they agreed to the request - to the delight of the crowd.

Llanelli owed their victory to the fact that Albert Jenkins and Tom Evans tackled with great effect in midfield.

The Llanelli team was - Ewart Thomas, Sid Hay, Tom Evans, Albert Jenkins, Ernie Finch, Dai John, Cyril Jenkins, Ivor Jones (captain), Alf Parker, Fred Harries, Emrys Griffiths, Bobbie Evans, Rees Thomas, Watcyn Thomas and Harry Morris.

After Llanelli's victory against the touring New Zealand Maoris, he won his first cap for Wales against England in 1927 - a game England won by 11 points to 9. Against Scotland in 1931 he played for 70 minutes with a broken collarbone and scored a try.

He became the 51st person to captain Wales on 21 Januray 1933 when he led Wales to their first victory over England at Twickenham, overcoming the "Twickenham bogey" that had haunted Wales.

A teammate, Ronnie Boon, later argued that the Welsh forwards deserved all the credit for the Welsh victory even though Boon scored all the Welsh points in a 7-3 victory. At half-time, England led the game 3-0 with a try from Walter Elliot; but soon after the restart, England's Ronald Gerrard kicked a loose ball across the ground straight into Boon's arms, and he calmly drop kicked the ball through the posts to take a 4-3 lead. A few minutes later Boon had extended the lead when the ball came back from a maul to Davey, who passed to Boon, and with the English defence out of position, he crossed at the corner and touched the ball down behind the posts for a try. Vivian Jenkins converted the try which was registered on the score board, but strangely the referee would later disallow the attempt after the game. The decision did not change the result, and Wales had finally beaten the 'Twickenham bogey' and Boon was hailed as a Welsh hero

However, after the match against Ireland the same year, Thomas fell out with the selectors, who had selected a prop as flanker and a flanker as prop for the match. Thomas ignored this and played them in their usual positions, and never played for Wales again.

Watcyn Thomas played 14 Internationals for Wales between 1927 and 1933, scoring 2 tries in the 5 wins, 1 draw and 8 defeats.

In 1936 he moved to Birmingham to teach at King Edward VI School Aston, played for Aston Old Edwardians, and died in 1977. An extension to a building at the school, opened in May 2008, is named in his honour.

His autobiography 'Rugby-playing Man', was published in 1977.

In 1965, an annual Watcyn Thomas match was established, where AOE played a select side, drawn from players that Watcyn knew, and which frequently included several Internationals. This continued until the 1990's, although with the onset of professionalism, the opposition, usually drawn together by Mike Collis, became more of a North Midlands/Greater Birmingham Invitation XV.

Pictured are

Watcyn Tomas in 1927 with his first International Cap

The teams from the inaugural Watcyn Thomas match. Thanks to Roy Bradley & Ian Wood for identifying the AOE players, and a couple of the Watcyn Thomas side :

In AOE kit :

Back Row : Alan Corner, Bob Heeks, Dave Marlow, Vic Lilley

Middle Row : Norman Greaves, Mike Lawrence, Roger Weetman,John Walker, Derek Coles, Mike Dugmore, Eddie Burch

Front Row : Roy Bradley, Colin Hadley, Maurice Whitehead, Keith Ashford,

Referee : Alan Haynes standing next to Chales Gilbert, and Watcyn Thomas on left of the middle row.

Don Abbey is the Captain of the Watcyn Thomas XV, and John Finlan (Old Saltleians, Moseley, England) is on the left of the front row

If anyone can assist with identifying any other players, please let me know.