A Lextan Gnoll Dream XIII

For over 100 years, the only way anyone could earn a crust playing rugby was to play rugby league. Therefore, many Neath RFC players “went north” and became stars in the 13-man code after shining at The Gnoll. Here’s our “Dream XIII” of players who pulled on a Neath shirt and then went to rugby league. Please click on the links for a bit more information on all of the players and to see their Wales rugby league stats.

1 Lewis Jones

One of the most famous dual-code international players of all time, Lewis played for Neath in the 1940s before undertaking his national service in the Navy. After leaving the Navy he joined Llanelli and played 10 times for Wales in rugby union. In November 1952, he signed for Leeds for a then record £6,000. He became the first Leeds player to score over 1,000 goals for the club, a feat not matched Kevin Sinfield recorded the same in 2009. He became Wales RL’s 24th captain when he led us in France in 1963 in the second of his two Wales appearances that were 10 years apart, as we played few games in that era. In rugby league circles, Jones was more famous for being a Great Britain international, winning 15 full caps and scoring in every game he played.  In a British playing career of more than 400 games, Lewis stood behind only Jim Sullivan and Gus Risman on the game’s all-time points chart with 3,445, before going on to score more than 1,000 more for the Sydney-based Wentworthville in Australia. He died on March 4, 2024 in Leeds, aged 92.

2 Billy Boston

It’s sometimes a forgotten fact that Billy Boston, one of the greatest winger the world has ever seen, played for Neath. The reason for this primarily was to get play rugby union at a high level. He played for CIACS in Cardiff but the main club there, Cardiff RFC, wouldn’t select him due to his skin colour. This was the 1950s. Neath however had no prejudices and he was paid all his expenses for travelling from Tiger Bay to The Gnoll to play. He of course turned professional with Wigan and the rest, including his winners medals in the Challenge Cup and league, is history. He scored 571 tries in 564 appearances in his rugby league career, the second highest all-time try scorer in the history of rugby league, after Brian Bevan. Many of those were in international rugby league where he played for Wales, Great Britain and Other Nationalities. He won 33 caps for Great Britain and helped them win the World Cup in 1960, becoming their first black tourist in Australia. He scored a further 53 tries in 27 tour matches for the Lions. He has had three statues erected in his honour along with many other awards during and after his career.

3 Scott Gibbs

Scott only had a short spell with Neath, just 14 appearances scoring four tries in the 1991-92 season. He wasn’t that much longer in rugby league. He played two games for Wales in the 1995 Rugby League World Cup, after making his debut against Australia the previous year, and played 48 times for St Helens between 1994 and 1996, helping them to a Super League and Challenge Cup double in his final season at the club. He became more famous on his return to rugby union, having being “allowed” to do so from 1995 when the ban on legitimate professionalism was lifted in the once amateur sport of rugby union. He had won the first of his 51 WRU caps in 1991 against England and was a surprise selection for the 1993 British Lions squad for their tour to New Zealand and on his return to union, he used the strength and power he gained in RL to excel on the 1997 Lions Tour to South Africa where he was player of the series. Many will remember him in the last-ever Five Nations match for Wales against England at Wembley in 1999 where he scored a superb individual try to help Wales win the game.

4 Allan Bateman

Neath was Allan Bateman’s second major rugby union club, moving there from Maesteg in 1989 helping them to a Cup Final wins two years in a row. It was the first of two spells at The Gnoll and in between that, he played professionally in rugby league with Warrington Wolves and Cronulla Sharks. During his time with the latter, he made his own way back to Cardiff to play for Wales RL against England before turning out for the Sharks again a few days later. He returned to rugby union when the game turned openly professional and, like Gibbs, playing in the 13-player game had improved his skills. He’d only won four caps for Wales RU before going north. On his return, he won 31 more. He played again for Neath from 2001-03 and on his departure, he returned to rugby league, helping to set up Bridgend Blue Bulls. Because of this, he was selected again for Wales in rugby league, becoming the few players to play union, then league, then union, then league for Wales. He ended up on 14 Wales Rugby League caps. His rugby union career continued until he was 48 years old as he turned out for his local side Heol-y-Cyw.

5 Arthur Bassett

Arthur Bassett, the younger brother of another WRU international Jack Bassett, played for Neath in the 1932-33 season. He won six Wales caps in rugby union before turning professional and winning a further three in rugby league. He was also a 1946 Great Britain tourist to Australia and New Zealand, one of 11 Welshmen who went on the tour. The team became known by the nickname The Indomitables due to their travelling to Australia on-board the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable. The tour was the first major sporting series played abroad by a British side in any sport after the Second World War. Arthur scored 18 tries in 11 games on that tour, the highest scoring Welshman. He played in the second and third tests against Australia, scoring a hat-trick of tries in the second and then two in the third, with the Lions winning both to claim The Ashes. His try scoring achievements with Halifax earned him a place in their Hall of Fame. He died in Matlock, Derbyshire on 30 December 1999, aged 85.

6 Jonathan Davies

Of course it’s Jiffy. One of Neath’s legends, he played 88 times for the club, scoring 37 tries in 88 appearances from 1982-88. He was captain of Neath when he transferred to Llanelli in 1988 and captain of Llanelli when he was signed by Widnes in 1989. Just one of two players to captain Wales RL in his first game for us (the other being our very first captain in Tom Llewellyn). As Wales RL’s 33rd captain, he kicked goals in all of his appearances, leading us to European Championship glory and a World Cup semi-final in 1995. The defeat to England in that tournament was his last game of a six-year rugby league career as he became the first Welshman to return to union after it became open. He won 13 Great Britain caps, and will be rightly remembered for his final game in those colours which was in 1994 where he scored an outstanding try, as the Lions beat the touring Australian Kangaroos at Wembley Stadium. A star in England with Widnes and Warrington and in Australia with Canterbury Bulldogs and North Queensland Cowboys, he score 1,985 club points in 215 games. He has since become a TV pundit and talk show host.

7 Ness Flowers

A native of Crynant, Neath was Ness Flowers’ big local side when he was growing up, so as a former Wales schools captain and a skilful half-back, it was natural that he would eventually play for them. He was snapped up by Wigan in 1979, making his debut for them on Boxing Day against St Helens. He won the first of his four Wales senior men’s caps exactly a month later. He later played for Huddersfield and ended his professional career with 12 games for Bridgend Blue Dragons in 1984-85. However, four years later, he studied at Swansea University and played for their side between 1989 and 1993 and won caps for Wales Students. In 1992, he formed and organised the Tawe Dulais rugby league team that was in operation for three years. When rugby union became open in 1995, he made a comeback at the age of 39, playing for Abercraf and then Neath Athletic. By trade, he was a collier and then a teacher.

8 Dai Prosser

Dai played for Neath & District Schools before joining Swansea. He did however return to his roots in 1931, moving to The Gnoll in line up in Neath colours with his brother Glyn, and was selected for the joint Aberavon-Neath XV to face the 1932 Springboks. He won two Welsh rugby union caps in 1934, went on the Crawshays’ traditional Easter tour, and later that year turned professional with York. There, he led his side to the Yorkshire Cup in 1936, and was bought by Leeds later that year, helping them to win that same trophy in 1937. He remained at Headingley for 14 years, even during war-time where he served as a bombardier in the British Army and represented the Northern Command XIII. He also figured in the ‘pride and prejudice’ match staged at Headingley between a League XV and Union XV. He won eight Wales RL caps and was a part of the 1937 and 1938 European Championship winning sides. Based in York, where he had a fish and chip shop, Dai took over as coach at York in the mid-1950s before returning to Leeds as assistant coach in 1960-61. He died in York on 6 May 1973, aged 60.

9 Hal Jones

Heralding from Ogmore Vale, Hal, full name Harold James Jones, initially played for Maesteg before joining in Neath in the late 1920s. Whilst with Neath, he represented Crawshays on their 1928 tour, before moving to Cardiff for his work as a policeman. He turned professional with Wigan in the summer of 1929 and played there for over four years, racking up 108 appearances and scoring 23 tries. He transferred over the Pennines to Keighley and was one of eight Welshmen in the side when they played in, but lost, the 1937 Challenge Cup Final to Widnes. He played twice for Wales in rugby union before playing three times for the Wales RL, adding him to the long list of dual code internationals. He also toured Australia and New Zealand with Great Britain in 1936 but didn’t play in any of the test matches, only in some of the tour matches. On retirement, he and his wife Ida were the landlord, and landlady of The Goat public house in Steeton, West Riding of Yorkshire. He died in Batley on 16 October 1955, aged just 47.

10 Mark Jones

Mark Jones was well-known for being one of the hard-men enforcers of the Neath side and was a part of their side that beat Llanelli in the Cup Final in Cardiff in 1989 and against Bridgend in 1990. Before moving to The Gnoll, he played for both of his local rugby union sides in Tredegar. He made 15 appearances for the Welsh rugby union team before turning to the 13-a-side code with Hull in 1990. After five years there, he joined Warrington for their last season of winter rugby and first season of Super League, scoring two tries in 38 appearances. He won 11 caps for Wales RL, playing in our European Championship winning side in 1995 and later in that year’s World Cup. He was sold to rugby union club Ebbw Vale for a nominal fee in September 1996. Following five years with Ebbw, he was with Pontypool for two years before briefly rejoining Neath. From there he transferred to Aberavon, playing for the union side in the winter and also turning out for the newly formed Aberavon Fighting Irish in the summer, despite now approaching 40 years old. He retired in 2005 and coached at Aberavon and Dunvant before moving to the Middle East working as a lab technician at the Abu Dhabi International School.

11 Glyn Shaw

Glyn is remembered as one of Neath’s greatest-ever forwards. He started off with Seven Sisters, won youth caps for Wales before moving to The Gnoll in 1970. He played for Wales B in 1971, and a year later, he helped Neath to win the inaugural WRU National Cup. In December 1972, he won the first of his 12 full WRU caps, playing in the narrow 19-16 loss to the All Blacks at Cardiff Arms Park. He won further honours with Neath & Aberavon Combined, West Glamorgan, West Wales and Crawshays before turning professional with Widnes in 1977. He was captain of Neath at that time. Glyn had an equally successful career in rugby league, making 240 first-class appearances and scoring 24 tries, winning seven caps for Wales RL and one cap for Great Britain, playing against New Zealand in 1980. With “cup kings” Widnes, he won two Challenge Cups at Wembley and other honours. Further medals came with Wigan before making brief appearances with Warrington and Rochdale. He remained in England, settling in Widnes and coaching West Bank Bears, but was still highly recognised by the Neath Rugby Supporters Club, who installed him in their Hall of Fame in 2016. He died in May 2022 after a short illness.

12 Rowland Phillips

A player and coach with Neath, he played for the club in the 1980s and played in their Cup Final win against Bridgend in 1990. He started his rugby union career with his hometown club St Davids, before moving to The Gnoll. While in his initial three-year spell there, he won 10 WRU caps before turning professional with Warrington, playing 50 times for them in four years. He spent a month at Rochdale Hornets, before joining Workington Town and was an ever-present in their lone Super League season in 1996. He played 17 times for Wales RL, turning out in our European Championship winning side in 1995 and the World Cup later that year. He returned to The Gnoll in 1998 as a player, eventually becoming head coach and leading them to four successive Welsh Premiership titles and three WRU Cup Final wins. He later coached Ebbw Vale and two Italian sides, Aironi and Viadana. He returned to coach Neath for the 2014-15 season then London Welsh the season after. Following that, he started working for the WRU and became the Wales Women’s head coach, coaching his daughter Carys, departing in early 2020. Also became a TV star in Jonathan Davies’ rugby-themed chat show on S4C.

13 Bryn Goldswain

Bryn Vernon Goldswain became Wales RL’s 20th captain on April 6 1952, leading us in four matches. Born in Merthyr Tydfil but moved to Abercrave when he was four years old, and it was with the local village team that he played his first rugby, eventually going on to play for Neath. During the war he volunteered for the RAF and here he alternated between playing football and rugby and had a trial with Wolverhampton Wanderers. But during the war, he was spotted by Hull Kingston Rovers scouts. In 1948, after playing 122 times for Hull KR, he moved to Oldham. He played 228 games for the club between 1949 and 1956, and was captain for eight years. After retiring in 1958, he coached Blackpool Borough, Rochdale Hornets and Doncaster. He eventually became a teacher, then headmaster of Red Bank Community Home, Newton-le-Willows, a residential school for young offenders on the outskirts of Liverpool. Bryn and his wife retired to Ceredigion in January 1983, but he died on 24 April 1983 at the age of 60 after a short illness.