Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

Where are they now? The last Wales team of the amateur era 25 years after their 1995 World Cup exit

By Owain Jones
(Photo by Tony Marshall/EMPICS via Getty Images)

June 4 marks the 25th anniversary of the last Wales team to play in the old amateur era, a 1995 defeat at the World Cup. Things were very different in the months before the sport officially turned professional. There were only 21 players in a squad. You could only bring on a player due to injury, and buckets of sand were brought on instead of kicking tees at a tournament that the Springboks went on to gloriously win in the final versus New Zealand.

ADVERTISEMENT

For Wales, their 1995 World Cup campaign hinged on their final pool match versus Ireland at Ellis Park, that grand old dame of a South African rugby stadium in Johannesburg. Both the Welsh and the Irish had been brushed aside by the emerging global phenomenon of Jonah Lomu in the pool stages, the All Blacks securing top spot and leaving the Celtic rivals in a straight shoot-out for the other quarter-final place. 

The form book was hard to gauge going into the 1995 World Cup: Wales regularly beat Ireland at Lansdowne Road and Ireland regularly returned the favour at the Arms Park. In the end, the Irish, guided by the nerveless Eric Elwood, emerged victorious by a single point (24-23) after tries from flanker Denis McBride, prop Nick Popplewell and replacement Eddie Halvey in an encounter unrecognisable from the pro era.

Video Spacer

Lawrence Dallaglio sits down with Jim Hamilton to discuss the famous 1997 Lions tour

Video Spacer

Lawrence Dallaglio sits down with Jim Hamilton to discuss the famous 1997 Lions tour

Wales had a late try from Hemi Taylor to give the World Cup scoreboard a sheen of respectability, but some of their players were never to wear the famous three feathers again after 1995. RugbyPass takes a look at what happened to the last of these Wales amateurs and how they fared when the game turned pro: 

15. Tony Clement

Clement was the dashing, counter-attacking full-back who battled it out with the doughty and durable Paul Thorburn for the Welsh No15 shirt. His verve with the ball in hand could be thrilling and was enough to see him travel as a Lions replacement in 1989 at just 21 and again to New Zealand in 1993. World Cups in 1991 and 1995 followed but like so many cavalier talents in Wales, his international career was never fully fulfilled.

14. Ieuan Evans

A veteran of three Lions tours, Evans was nicknamed the ‘Carmarthen Cowboy’ and with 79 Test caps, was a player of genuine quality. He was renowned for his jinking runs, often stepping off his right foot to cut infield. A former Welsh captain on 28 occasions, Evans was a brilliant finisher crossing the whitewash on 34 occasions for Wales. Post-rugby, Evans married the model, Kathryn Smith, and has worked as a regular pundit on Sky Sports for a number of years. His son, Cai, plays for the Ospreys at fly-half and full-back.

13. Mike Hall

Hailing from Brynteg School in Bridgend, which has produced the likes of Gavin Henson, JPR Williams and Rob Howley, Wales’ loss to Ireland in the 1995 World Cup was to be Hall’s final appearance in a Welsh shirt. The Welsh captain leading into the tournament, he was one of the more cerebral members of the Welsh squad having attended Cambridge University. After retiring he became a successful rugby pundit with the BBC and had a high-profile directorship at Cardiff City. He was also a well-known property developer.

ADVERTISEMENT

12. Neil Jenkins

For a while, Jenkins was the leading points scorer in Test rugby with 1,089 points and his metronomic boot enough to see him travel on two Lions tours, notably in 1997 where his right peg helped the tourists to a notable series win. For Wales, Jenkins was consistency personified, winning 87 caps. Perhaps unfairly pigeonholed as a kicking fly-half, Jenkins had underrated distribution and was fleet of foot in his early years. Since retiring, he spent twelve years as Warren Gatland’s kicking and skills coach and has continued his role with Wayne Pivac. He was an assistant coach on three Lions tours.

11. Gareth Thomas

Where do you start? ‘Alfie’ was the first Welsh player to win 100 caps for his country and scored four tries against Japan at the 1995 World Cup in only his second start. Captain for Wales’ first Grand Slam in 2005, Thomas went on to captain the Lions in the same year and win a Heineken Cup with Toulouse. A gifted athlete and charismatic figure, the Bridgend-born player played on the wing and at full-back and came out as gay in 2009. He has since raised awareness for the LGBT community in sport and is a well-known fixture on the reality TV scene, often championing the rights of minorities. In 2019, he revealed he was HIV positive.

Wales 1995 World Cup
All Blacks’ Jonah Lomu is chased by Neil Jenkins and Gareth Thomas in an earlier pool match (Photo by Philip Littleton/AFP via Getty Images)

10. Adrian Davies

ADVERTISEMENT

Like Hall, born in Bridgend and a Cambridge Blue, Davies was the surprise choice at fly-half for the 1995 World Cup. An astute game manager with Cardiff and Neath at club level, Davies ended up playing at two World Cup, 1991 and 1995, but only registered nine caps. On retiring, he was a board member at London Welsh and a chartered surveyor by profession. He now works for the building consultancy, Paragon.

9. Robert Jones

One of only six scrum-halves to have crossed the 50-cap mark with Wales, for a period, Jones battled it out with Nick Farr-Jones as the world’s premier No9. Small with brilliant service, he played for Swansea on 286 occasions and was a combative presence at the base of the scrum on the 1989 and 1993 Lions tours. He formed a feted half-back partnership with Jonathan Davies and after retiring at the 1995 World Cup, he continues to be a respected pundit for BBC Wales. In his day job, he works alongside fellow Wales scrum-half Brynmor Williams at insurance group Thomas Carroll.

1. Mike Griffiths

When Griffiths left the field disconsolate after the loss to Ireland, he thought it would be his last outing in a Wales shirt before making one more appearance three years later in the same country. It was not a happy send-off as Wales went down 96-13 in a notorious capitulation. Built like a brick outhouse and hailing from the Rhondda valley, Griffiths played for Bridgend and Cardiff in a career that saw him represent Wales at two World Cups and the successful 1989 Lions tour. After a stint as scrum coach with Pontypridd, Griffiths now works in civil engineering.

2. Jonathan Humphreys

A nuggety hooker who enjoyed a 13-year association at club level with Cardiff before finishing his career at Bath. At international level, Humphreys’ leadership qualities saw him captaining Wales on 19 occasions where his never-take-a-backwards-step attitude chimed with the Welsh public even though the side had a series of disappointing results. Post playing, Humphreys has gone on to forge a hugely successful coaching career. He spent seven years at the Ospreys before heading up to Scotland to work as a scrum coach for the national team, latterly spending two years at Glasgow Warriors assistant coach. In December he formally rejoined the Welsh set-up to support new boss Pivac.

3. John Davies

A West Walian farmer by profession, Davies locked down the Scarlets and Wales scrum throughout the nineties, winning 38 caps. Famously durable, the tighthead spent 18 years with Neath and Richmond but is perhaps best known for his stint at Llanelli. Born in Cardigan, the prop kept playing at senior level until he was 38 and was still turning out for his local side, Crymych, into his late forties. He has continued farming and sells farm produce in West Wales.

4. Derwyn Jones

The tallest man to play for Wales at 6ft 10ins, Jones was a target – not just for his hookers in a career that earned him 19 caps in the mid-nineties, he was also infamously felled by a Kobus Wiese haymaker when playing against the Springboks. He spent most of his club career with the Cardiff Blues and after retirement, alongside media commitments as a commentator, he made his name as a players’ agent. He is currently the managing director of Win Sports, looking after the likes of Rhys Webb, Justin Tipuric and Dan Lydiate.

Wales 1995 World Cup
Lineout action from 25 years ago in Johannesburg (Photo by Tony Marshall/Empics via Getty Images)

5. Gareth Llewellyn

For a period, Llewellyn was Wales’ most capped player. A skilled lineout technician, when he hung up his boots against New Zealand in 2004 he had 92 caps to his name and three World Cups under his belt. The 6ft 6in lock was widely travelled at club level in a 20-year playing career, turning out for Harlequins, Narbonne and Bristol, he is best known for a decade of service for Neath. Now working in the medical services industry after dabbling in coaching, he is keeping involved in rugby through is his son Max, a strapping 6ft 5in centre at the Cardiff Blues.

6. Stuart Davies

Davies played on 17 occasions for Wales as a ball-carrying No8 but is best known for captaining Swansea, turning out for the All Whites 245 times over 15 seasons. After retiring, Davies became a respected commentator and pundit for BBC Wales and returned to rugby on a full-time basis as chief executive of the Dragons in 2015 only to depart nearly three years later as the WRU took charge of the region. He is now working at Morganstone, a construction company in West Wales.

7. Hemi Taylor
He was an uncompromising sort on the field and became the first New Zealander to play for Wales in 1994. Able to play across the back row, Taylor started out with Newbridge but made his name with the Blue and Black of Cardiff where he won 24 caps for Wales in the mid-nineties, which was a period of modest success for Wales. A boiler-maker by trade, Taylor now runs a farm and holiday home near Cardigan Bay with his wife Carys.

8. Emyr Lewis

Nicknamed ‘Tarw’ (the Welsh for bull) for his prodigious strength, Lewis was a hard-running back row who loved to skittle players on their backsides. He turned out for Wales on 41 occasions between 1991 and 1996, captaining the side on occasion and had a distinguished club career with Llanelli and Cardiff before retiring in 1999. Post-career, Lewis has worked for BBC Wales and the Welsh language S4C, while also working in tech sales roles.

June 4, 1995, replacements: Garin Jenkins, Ricky Evans, Stuart Roy, Andy Moore, Wayne Proctor, Dai Evans.

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 6 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

36 Go to comments
A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

36 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING 'Crikey': Son of league legend Martin Offiah picked by England U18s 'Crikey': Son of league legend Martin Offiah picked by England U18s
Search