Brendan Gallagher: Those gallant Dragons who refused to be slain

It was the day that Bleddyn Williams led Wales to victory over the All Blacks and the afternoon Olympic sprinter Ken Jones pinned back his ears to chase Clem Thomas’ outrageous cross-field kick and score the winning try.
It was also the moment Cardiff flanker Sid Judd, a late replacement on the morning of the match, scored his solitary try for Wales, a try that was still being celebrated six years later when he died a tragically early death aged 30. It was in fact the last day Wales tasted victory against New Zealand. December 19 1953.
But what about Gareth Griffiths? What about the young Cardiff centre who dislocated his shoulder early in the second half? Griffiths was led to a place of safety on the muddy touchline and without any form of anaesthetic or painkiller had said shoulder crunched painfully back into positon by WRU Surgeon Nathan Rocyn-Jones as the 55, 000 crowd looked away in horror.
Despite being told not to even think about returning to the pitch Griffiths couldn’t bear it as New Zealand laid siege to the Wales line. Down on the team bench, he threw away the heavy Army issue blankets he had be wrapped in to ward off the December cold (and the post opertion shock!) and Lazarus-like rose unbidded and trotted back onto the pitch to lend what assistance he could in their moment of need. Skipper Williams pointed to the wing where perhaps he could be shielded a little.
And, lo and behold, from somewhere Wales, having been on the ropes and close to exhaustion, found the wherewithal to somehow win! Perhaps they took inspiration from their wounded warrior returning to the fray. Such heroics would be front page news these days, yet amid all the excitement Griffiths often seems to be the forgotten man.

Griffiths, living in Penarth and 83 this month, is one of three surviving Welshmen on the planet who have experienced playing in a Wales Test win over the All Blacks. The other two are former Neath prop Courtney Meredith, who is down in Porthcawl, and No.8 John Gwilliam who still lives up on the North Wales coat at Llanfairfechen. The other 12 have all passed away now, along with the vast majority of the 55,000 crowd which packed into Cardiff Arms Park that day.
Meredith developed into a superb grizzly prop and a noted Lion in South Africa in 1955 while Gwilliam is also a prominent member of the Welsh pantheon, the skipper who led Wales to Grand Slams in 1950 and 1952 before handing over the reins to Williams who alas was bedevilled by injury and never got to captain Wales as often as he should have done. But it’s Gareth Griffiths who interests me most. The unsung hero. The Dragon who could not be slain and kept breathing fire.
Shortly before he died I met up with Bleddyn Williams – and of course his side kick Jack Matthews – for a long chat and as you can imagine the ‘53 win cropped up occasionally although nowhere near as much as you might think. Both led very full lives in which rugby slotted into a bigger picture. That famous win was not the reason for our lunch and interview but I took note of what he said anyway.
Bleddyn told me: “It was a good effort from Gareth to get back on the pitch because a dislocated shoulder is no small injury and extremely painful. It was a big lift just being back to 15 men but probably the main factor is that it got the crowd going again. There was a surge of energy.
“In those days with no replacements you did tend to bite the bullet for your team if at all possible. I don’t mean this lightly but our generation was still close to the War – many of us had fought in it – and we knew what real suffering and carnage was. In the great scheme of things a rugby injury was not so serious. We had all seen much worse. If you could keep moving in some way, you were still of some use to your team. Still a dislocated shoulder was pretty much at the limit pain wise I would say.
“By midway through the second half I was struggling myself, virtually on one leg. I had somehow torn some ligaments or a tendon high on one of my hips and was getting lamer by the minute. I wasn’t able to play again for two months afterwards but there were no thoughts of coming off that day in Cardiff.
“In fact my incapacity might have indirectly led to Ken Jones’ late winner. When Clem was in possession down the touchline and the Kiwis were closing in on him, I was the closest man in support but I was no use to man or beast in terms of running or attacking by then which Clem was well aware of. That’s why he opted for the unexpected crossfield kick. I say unexpected but many people forget he had produced something very similar in 1952 when we beat the French.”
Williams had returned from the Lions tour of New Zealand in 1950 with a set idea on how to beat the All Blacks and 1953 was the season his dreams came through both for Cardiff and Wales.

“The Cardiff win was undoubtedly the better performance in style and substance. We beat New Zealand handsomely that day although 8-3 sounds rather closer than it was. We played together every week as a team at Cardiff and it was possible to implement team tactics, with Wales we played four Championship matches a year and that was it unless there was a big incoming tour.
“In the international the New Zealand pack performed much better than against Cardiff and there was an element of them losing the game rather than us winning it. That might sound harsh because we did outscore them two tries to one but Wales were under the cosh for a good part of the game and the Kiwis should have scored more points.  We defended very well but they were also unlucky. I rather fancy they had a good try disallowed at one stage.
“We did well to rally late on because in those days the touring side had a big advantage in terms of fitness and organisation. They were effectively living the life of a professional sportsman for four to five months – as we did when touring with the Lions – while we were at home combining rugby with earning a living.
“Before the match we had a one hour run through on the Friday and then all went back to our homes. There was no question of being put up in a hotel for the night. The West Walians came back in by train from Swansea or Neath the next morning and the lads from up in the Valleys travelled down by train of bus.
“Afterwards the official dinner finished early in the evening, 9pm at the latest, and again there was no question of a hotel room for the night on the WRU tab. Some of the lads batted on very late but others headed straight home.
“Courtney was on the early morning shift at his steelworks the following morning and by Monday we were all back at work. By Wednesday afternoon the All Blacks were up at Abertillery Park beating a combined Abertillery-Ebbw Vale side and on the Saturday they thrashed the Combined Services at Twickenham. Somewhere in the middle of all that they fitted Christmas in. You moved on quickly on those big tours. Different times.”
*This article was first published in The Rugby Paper on November 16.