Brinley "Bryn" Victor Meredith
Scrum.com (born 21 October 1930 in

Abersychan Abersychan is a town and community (Wales), community north of Pontypool in Torfaen, Wales, and lies within the boundaries of the Monmouthshire (historic), historic county of Monmouthshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county o ...

) was a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

international. Meredith was a mobile hooker, he was selected 34 times for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

between 1954 and 1962, but missed 2 matches for health and family bereavement reasons.

British Lion

In 1955 he was part of the British Lions tour of South Africa, in which the British tourists shared the Test series against South Africa 2-2 and Meredith scored his record six tries, including the pick of the second international in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. The Lions lost, but their hooker enhanced his reputation by winning a crucial strike in the scrum and then having the pace to get himself among the three-quarters and pop up outside centre Phil Davies to take a scoring pass. On the 1955 Lions Tour the all-Welsh front row of

Billy Williams Billy Leo Williams (born June 15, 1938) is an American former left fielder and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played from 1959 to 1976, almost entirely for the Chicago Cubs. A six-time All-Star, Williams was named the 1961 National L ...

, Bryn Meredith and Courtney Meredith was selected for a Lions test match. This did not occur again until June 2009 when

Gethin Jenkins Gethin Jenkins (born 17 November 1980) is a Welsh former professional rugby union player who played as a prop for Pontypridd, Celtic Warriors, Cardiff Blues and Toulon. At international level, he won 129 caps for Wales. On his 105th appearance ...

, Adam Jones and Matthew Rees were selected as 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 ...

front row for the 2nd Test against South Africa. In 1959, Meredith was a Lion again, but found himself in the unfortunate position of competing against tour captain Ronnie Dawson for a place in the Test team. Consequently, he finished as the only Lion not to appear in an international, although many judges felt he should have been selected for the final match of the series. Captaincy of the team against the Junior All Blacks was a small consolation, but he never complained about his lot and even appeared as a flanker when injuries demanded on the Australian leg of the tour. In 1962, Meredith was a live candidate for the tour captaincy himself, and although he missed out to Arthur Smith he added to his reputation in South Africa once more with another excellent tour capped by appearances in all four Tests. He retired at the end of that tour, having played eight Tests for the Lions. He was voted his country's sportsman of the year in his final season.

Club career

Meredith played his club rugby for

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club () was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from ...

and Newport. He is generally considered to be one of the finest forwards of all time, and is almost obligatorily found in selections of "the greatest Welsh Rugby Teams of all time".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meredith, Bryn 1930 births Living people Alumni of the University of Exeter Barbarian F.C. players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Wales Devonport Services R.F.C. players London Welsh RFC players Newport RFC players People educated at West Monmouth School Rugby union hookers Rugby union players from Torfaen Wales international rugby union players Wales rugby union captains Welsh rugby union players