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November 21st, 1953, saw Cardiff defeat the All Blacks at the fourth attempt. Captain Bleddyn Williams had long planned tactics to conquer the New Zealanders, having gained much knowledge about their style of play during 1950 Lions tour. Simply put, his plan was to try to tire their much bigger pack by running them around the park. To his own forwards he said, ‘give me two-fifths possession of the ball and we’ll win’, knowing that the atmosphere of the Cardiff Arms Park was also worth a couple of points to the home team. 

The name of Cardiff RFC is renowned throughout the rugby world but how many people realise that the game as played today owes a great debt to Cardiff Rugby Club? In the early years, rugby teams often contained more than fifteen players per side but as the game developed then fifteen became the norm. Unlike today, the sides contained 9 or even 10 forwards and only five or six backs. So why did it change? The answer to this is to be found in the early history of Cardiff rugby and like many of history’s greatest events owed more to a chance event rather than meticulous planning.

Many children have grand dreams of growing up like becoming a footballer, a rugby player, or a soldier. Not many end up achieving one, but one Cardiff Rugby legend, Ivor Williams, must have been an undecisive child as he did all three and excelled at all of them.

Cardiff Rugby Museum has mounted a special exhibition this summer to celebrate Cardiff’s British Lions. Our timing was poor, in that this was the first tour since 1993 not to feature a Cardiff player, though Tomos Williams made the cut just a year after graduating from our ranks and so we can lay a partial claim to representation!