William Llewellyn Morgan (1 January 1884 – 11 April 1960) was a Welsh international

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 ...

halfback who played club rugby for

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. Morgan played international rugby 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 in 1908 was selected to join

Arthur Harding Arthur Flowers Harding (8 August 1878 – 15 May 1947) was an English-born international rugby union player who played for and captained the Welsh national rugby union team, Wales national team. Often called 'Boxer' Harding, he was a member of ...

Anglo-Welsh Welsh writing in English, (previously Anglo-Welsh literature) is a term used to describe works written in the English language by Welsh writers. The term 'Anglo-Welsh' replaced an earlier attempt to define this category of writing as 'Anglo- ...

tour of New Zealand and Australia.

Rugby career

One of the first clubs that Morgan was affiliated to was

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kin ...

, following his older brother

Teddy Morgan Edward Morgan (22 May 1880 – 1 September 1949) was a Welsh international rugby union player. He was a member of the victorious Wales team who beat the 1905 touring All Blacks in the famous '' Match of the Century'' and is remembered for scorin ...

, who was already a Welsh international rugby player. During the 1905/06 season while representing Guy's, Morgan was invited to play for invitational touring team the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

. By 1908, Morgan was back in Wales, and playing for first class Welsh team, Cardiff. It was while representing Cardiff, that Morgan was selected for the Anglo-Welsh team to tour Australia and New Zealand with his brother Teddy. The British team were outclassed in the first Test Match against

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 ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

, and five replacements were made for the second test in Wellington, which included both Morgan and his brother. Morgan found himself one of three halfbacks, in an unorthodox formation which mimicked the New Zealand seven-man pack. Joining Morgan at half back were two other Welsh players, James "Tuan" Jones and, moved from threequarters, Reggie Gibbs. The game ended in a 3-3 draw and Morgan was reselected for the final test in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. Despite his considerable rugby experience, it took until 1910 for Morgan to win a cap for his own birth country, Wales. In a home game played at the

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park (), also known as The Arms Park, is primarily a rugby union stadium, and also has a bowling green. It is situated in Cardiff, Wales, next to the Millennium Stadium. The Arms Park was host to the 1958 British Empire and Common ...

, Morgan was brought into the Welsh team to face Scotland as part of the

Five Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament contes ...

as a replacement for

Dicky Owen Dicky Owen (17 November 1876 - 27 February 1932) was a Welsh international scrum-half who played club rugby for Swansea RFCSmith (1979), pg 132. Owen is seen as one of the greatest Welsh scrum-halves and won 35 caps for Wales between 1901 and 1 ...

. Morgan was partnered at halfback with Percy Bush, which saw the Welsh team win by a comfortable 14 points to nil. The next game, Morgan was replaced by Newport's Tommy Vile and didn't represent Wales again. After his rugby career for Cardiff came to an end, Morgan would often turn out for French team

Stade Bordelais Stade Bordelais are a French rugby union club, based in Bordeaux. The club was established in 1889. Bordelais were a major force in the French championship during the 1900s. Until 2005–06, the senior team competed in the second level of dom ...

, where he was nicknamed "Billy Bordeaux".
Rugby-Pioneers

International games played

WalesSmith (1980), pg 469. * 1910

Bibliography

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, William Llewellyn 1884 births 1960 deaths 20th-century Welsh sportsmen Welsh rugby union players Wales international rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Wales Cardiff RFC players Barbarian F.C. players London Welsh RFC players Aberdare RFC players Glamorgan County RFC players Rugby union players from Aberdare People educated at Christ College, Brecon Rugby union halfbacks