Vivian Gordon James "Viv" Jenkins (2 November 1911 – 5 January 2004) was a Welsh

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 ...

player who, having taught Classics and Games at

Dover College Dover College is an independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition located in Dover in south east England. It was founded in 1871, and takes both day pupils and boarders from the UK and internationally. The schoo ...

, went on to have a successful career as a sports journalist. He won 14 caps 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 ...

and 1 cap for 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 ...

. He also played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

with

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

and

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

Early life

Jenkins was born in

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community (Wales), community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which d ...

but grew up near

Bridgend Bridgend (; or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge over the River Og ...

. He attended

Llandovery College Llandovery College () is a coeducational independent boarding and day school in Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The college consists of Gollop Preparatory, Senior School and Sixth Form. It was previously known as "Welsh College, Llandovery" ...

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire (; or informally ') is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. ...

and later

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship ...

Rugby career

Jenkins played rugby for Jesus College and represented the school's side at

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

on three occasions. In 1932, he was offered a chance to play for his home club

Bridgend RFC Bridgend Ravens () (formerly Bridgend RFC) are a semi-professional rugby union club based in Bridgend, South Wales. They currently play in Super Rygbi Cymru and are a feeder club to the Ospreys (rugby union), Ospreys regional team. Origin B ...

in a tie against

Newport RFC Newport Rugby Football Club () is a Welsh rugby union club based in the city of Newport, Wales. They presently play in the Super Rygbi Cymru. Until 2021 Newport RFC were based at Rodney Parade situated on the east bank of the River Usk. Ever ...

. His performances for Bridgend led to him receiving a call up to the

Wales national rugby union team The Wales national rugby union team () represents the Welsh Rugby Union in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international agai ...

within a month to play against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

on 21 January 1933. Wales won the match 7–3, the first time the side had won at Twickenham for 23 years. The following year, Jenkins missed the opening match of the

1934 Home Nations Championship The 1934 Home Nations Championship was the thirtieth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Five Nations, and prior to that, the Home Nations, this was the forty-seventh series of the nort ...

against England. He rejoined the side ahead of its victory over

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, in which he kicked two conversions, and became the first Welsh full back to score a try in an international fixture when he scored ran in a try against Ireland in the final match. In 1935, Jenkins and teammate Wilf Wooller inspired Wales to victory over

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Jenkins was part of the

1938 British Lions tour to South Africa The 1938 British Isles tour to South Africa was the fourteenth tour by a British and Irish Lions, British Isles team and the sixth to South Africa. The tour is retrospectively classed as one of the British Lions tours, as the Lions naming conve ...

where he was named vice-captain to Sam Walker. Although disrupted by injury, he was the team's second-highest scorer with 50 points during the tour. He won his final cap for Wales the following year, in a 3–0 defeat to England.

Personal life

Jenkins married Susan Fraser in 1940 and the couple had one son together. His wife died in 1984. After graduating from Jesus College, Jenkins took up a teaching position at

alongside his sporting career. At the start of the Second World War, Jenkins joined the Territorial Army and served in the anti-aircraft command where he reached the rank of captain. After the war ended, Jenkins became a rugby reporter for the ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national "Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top" Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling ...

'' and later ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

''. He served as the editor of ''Rothmans Rugby Yearbook'' for 11 years and wrote several books on the sport.

References

External links

Cricinfo: Viv Jenkins

at CricketArchive * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Vivian 1911 births 2004 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Bridgend RFC players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Wales Glamorgan cricketers London Welsh RFC players Oxford University cricketers Oxford University RFC players People educated at Llandovery College Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union players from Port Talbot Wales international rugby union players Welsh cricketers Welsh rugby union players Welsh sportswriters