We were sorry to hear about the recent passing of Graham Jones at the age of 91. He was our second oldest surviving Welsh international.

He played just once for Wales, against France, in Toulouse, on 1st March 1959, where he scored a try in our 25-8 reversal. Because the match had not been recognised as a full international at the time, none of the players who took part received international caps for it, but it has since been considered official by all parties and Graham was awarded heritage number 250.

Born in 1932, Graham Jones was a one-club man in rugby league, playing 239 times for Salford and scoring 119 tries after joining them in November 1954. However, he nearly didn’t have any kind of rugby career. While on National Service with the RAF in Germany, Jones suffered a serious attack of typhoid and it was thought he would never play again, but he recovered and returned to play for Old Penarthians before joining Penarth in 1953. He also had a brief spell at Cardiff. At his time of turning professional, he was described as potentially the best fly-half in Welsh club rugby. He had appeared in the first Welsh international trial match of the 1954-55 season after playing for Glamorgan County.

Graham stayed in the Greater Manchester/Salford area after retiring and was a regular attendee at the Lance Todd Trophy Presentation Dinner, given to the player of the match at the men’s Challenge Cup Final and held in Salford annually, in company with his great friend from that team, Welsh, former centre to him, John Cheshire.

Our condolences go out to all of his family and friends at this sad time.