Captains

Current captain Elliot Kear scores for Wales 9s v Lebanon 9s in Sydney in 2009. Digital image by Shane Myers � NRL Photos

 

To play for Wales is one thing, to captain Wales is another.

Whether a player has captained Wales 18 times, like current men’s record holder Jim Sullivan, or just the once like a number have done, it’s a great honour to lead the team out and stand in the centre for the photographs or coin toss.

From Tom Llewellyn, who captained Wales in the first ever international rugby league match between two full nations anywhere in the world when Wales beat New Zealand 9-8 in Aberdare on New Years Day 1908, Wales have had 50 first class men’s side captains, 47 in test matches.

The stats include 180 capped internationals, five “tour” matches in New Zealand in 1975 against regional and representative sides, plus four recognised first class matches against representative sides played in England, Wales and France.

THE WALES CAPTAINS ROLL OF HONOUR

Captain #	Name	Times as Captain	Debut as Captain
1	Tom Llewellyn	2	Test # 1 - 01/01/1908 New Zealand
2	Bert Jenkins	5	Test # 2 - 20/04/1908 England
3	Chick Jenkins	2	Test # 5 - 09/04/1910 England
4	Johnny Thomas	2	Test # 10 - 15/02/1913 England
5	Gwyn Thomas	1	Test # 12 - 19/01/1921 England
6	Ben Gronow	4	Test # 13 - 10/12/1921 Australia
7	Danny Hurcombe	3	Test # 17 - 07/02/1925 England
8	Jim Sullivan *	19	Test # 19 - 12/04/1926 England
9	Joe Thompson	1	Test # 24 - 18/01/1930 Australia
10	Emlyn Jenkins	1	Test # 30 - 10/04/1935 England
11	Gus Risman	5	Test # 40 - 09/11/1940 England
12	Trevor Foster	7	Test # 42 - 27/02/1943 England
13	Doug Phillips	1	Test # 50 - 12/04/1947 France
14	Ted Ward	9	Test # 51 - 20/09/1947 England
15	Dai Jenkins	1	Test # 56 - 22/09/1948 England
16	Ralph Morgan	1	Test # 62 - 12/11/1949 France
17	Dickie Williams	5	Test # 64 - 14/10/1950 England
18	Frank Osmond	1	Test # 66 - 15/04/1951 France
19	Gareth Price *	1	19/05/1951 British Empire
20	Bryn Goldswain *	4	Test # 70 - 06/04/1952 France
21	Jack Evans	3	Test # 73 - 15/04/1953 Other Nationalities
22	Billy Banks	1	Test # 76 - 13/12/1953 France
23	Tommy Harris	1	Test # 77 - 01/03/1959 France
24	Lewis Jones	1	Test # 78 - 17/02/1963 France
25	John Mantle	3	Test # 79 - 07/11/1968 England
26	John Warlow	1	Test # 80 - 09/03/1969 France
27	Gordon Lewis	2	Test # 83 - 25/01/1970 France
28	David Watkins **	17	Test # 85 - 16/02/1975 France
29	Kel Coslett	1	01/07/1975 Auckland
30	Bill Francis	6	Test # 96 - 20/02/1977 France
31	John Bevan	4	Test # 104 - 31/01/1981 France
32	Trevor Skerrett	1	Test # 108 - 14/10/1984 England
33	Jonathan Davies	9	Test # 109 - 17/10/1991 Papua New Guinea
34	Dai Young	6	Test # 111 - 27/11/1992 England
35	Paul Moriarty	1	Test # 124 - 26/06/1996 England
36	Kelvin Skerrett *	1	19/06/1998 Emerging England
37	Neil Cowie	2	Test # 125 - 15/10/1999 Ireland
38	Iestyn Harris	6	Test # 127 - 19/10/2000 South Africa
39	Keiron Cunningham	1	Test # 133 - 29/07/2001 England
40	Lee Briers	13	Test # 134 - 03/11/2002 New Zealand
41	Paul Atcheson	3	Test # 137 - 26/10/2003 Russia
42	Damian Gibson	2	Test # 138 - 17/10/2004 Ireland
43	David Mills	1	Test # 147 - 10/10/2008 England
44	Jordan James	6	Test # 148 - 17/10/2009 England
45	Ian Watson	1	Test # 152 - 06/10/2010 Italy
46	Gareth Thomas	1	Test # 155 - 23/10/2010 France
47	Craig Kopczak	13	Test # 161 - 20/10/2012 France
48	Peter Lupton	3	Test # 166 - 17/10/2014 Scotland
49	Rhodri Lloyd	1	Test # 173 - 21/10/2016 Jamaica
50	Elliot Kear	3	Test #178 - 27/10/2018 France

* includes one non-test match

** includes four non-test matches