Codebreakers

READ – Codebreakers – it’s not the end

There have been over 100 players who have played senior internationals for Wales in both rugby union and rugby league.

First, we have the 95 men’s players who have heritage numbers for Wales in both rugby union and rugby league. That’s those who have won a full cap for both countries.

Then we have men’s international players who were awarded rugby union caps posthumously. Elwyn Gwyther, Glyn Turner, Brian Butler and Stuart Ferguson. Gwyther faced France in 1945 with the others taking on Argentina in 1968. Wales’ opposition considered the games full test matches whilst at the time, the WRU didn’t. This was corrected in 2013 when their caps, known as “President’s Caps” were awarded, done so not to cause a knock-on effect in the history books and alter their heritage numbers.

Also, we have had six women who have played in a full international for Wales in rugby union and rugby league. Rafiuke Taylor lined up for Wales Women against England Lions in Wales’  historic 24-20 win. However she only became officially a dual-code international in 2021, when she and Ffion Lewis played for Wales against England in the first official Wales test match.

In addition, in 2021, James Jones became Welsh rugby (and potentially world rugby’s) first ever referee codebreaker. He took charge of four international rugby union matches between 2007 and 2010 before transferring to rugby league in 2013. The first full rugby league test match he refereed was the men’s European Championship B game between Ukraine and Russia in Belgrade, Serbia.

We also have another football codebreaker – David Davies from Llanelli who left the Scarlets for Swinton in 1899. He also turned out for Salford before switching codes and played in goal for Bolton Wanderers and won three Welsh caps. He then returned to the oval ball game and won a Welsh cap in our code making him the only footballer to play for Wales at both international association football, and international rugby league and is also the only person to have appeared in both the FA Cup Final and the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final.

And as a postscript, we have those who have played British baseball and rugby league for Wales. The legendary Jim Sullivan went north to Wigan without winning a Welsh rugby union cap. However he did play for Wales in British baseball after starting out with Splott YMCA. In 1921, while still aged 17, he faced England in Liverpool and clubbed 18 American-style runs. The lesser known D Ralph Morgan also played both baseball and rugby league for Wales, whilst Dai Bishop played for Wales in union, league and baseball. Jonathan Griffiths also played cricket for Wales but those games weren’t recognised as full internationals.

THE WELSH RUGBY DUAL CODE INTERNATIONALS – CLICK ON THE NUMBERS BELOW TO SEE MORE ON EACH PLAYER

DC#	NAME	DATE OF BIRTH	BIRTHPLACE	RU DEBUT	WRU #
1	Dai Jones	1881-05-16	Tynewydd	1902	182
2	Billy O’Neill	1878-06-05	Cardiff	1904	196
3	Billy Dowell	1885-05-21	Pontypool	1907	217
4	Jake Blackmore	1883-05-15	Bedwellty	1909	230
5	Ben Gronow	1887-03-10	Bridgend	1910	234
6	Ernie Jenkins	1880-09-20	Upper Cwmbran	1910	238
7	Joe Pugsley	1885-05-10	Swansea	1910	237
8	William Evans	1883-03-23	Nantyglo	1911	246
9	Percy Coldrick	1888-11-01	Caerleon	1911	243
10	Gus Merry	1887-11-24	Newport	1912	261
11	Willie Davies	1890-12-27	Aberavon	1912	253
12	Rees Richards	1886-04-15	Cwmafan	1913	277
13	Bryn Williams	1895-04-03	Llanelli	1920	309
14	Bobby Lloyd	1888-07-12	Crickhowell	1913	276
15	Frankie Evans	1897-04-03	Dafen	1921	322
16	George Oliver	1891-04-03	Pontypool	1920	305
17	Edgar Morgan	1896-05-17	Llanelli	1920	312
18	Jerry Shea	1892-08-12	Newport	1919	297
19	Wilf Hodder	1896-05-06	Abersychan	1921	315
20	Dai Edwards	1896-03-21	Glynneath	1921	314
21	Joe Thompson	1902-12-22	Hambrook	1923	345
22	Johnny Ring	1900-11-13	Port Talbot	1921	318
23	Ambrose Baker	1897-07-07	Swansea	1921	327
24	Mel Rosser	1901-04-18	Machen	1924	368
25	Joseph Jones	1899-03-15	Pontardawe	1924	376
26	Ike Fowler	1894-08-27	Pantyffynnon	1919	288
27	Brinley Phillips	1900-10-11	Merthyr Tydfil	1925	384
28	Jack Gore	1899-06-16	Blaina	1924	370
29	David Jenkins	1901-05-22	Pyle	1926	425
30	Emlyn Watkins	1904-09-21	Blaina	1926	407
31	Eddie Williams	1898-10-14	Cwmllynfell	1924	380
32	Arthur Evans	1903-11-03	Abersychan	1924	357
33	Billy Williams	1905-12-29	Crumlin	1927	414
34	Gwynne Davies	1908-06-23	Aberkenfig	1928	431
35	Ocker Thomas	1907-03-08	Merthyr Tydfil	1930	445
36	Norman Fender	1910-09-02	Cardiff	1930	450
37	Jack Morley	1909-07-28	Newport	1929	435
38	Dicky Ralph	1908-01-21	Abercarn	1931	458
39	Iorrie Isaacs	1910-10-04	Cilfynydd	1933	461
40	Gomer Hughes	1910-05-13	Neath	1934	477
41	Lou Rees	1910-01-07	Treherbert	1933	471
42	Harold Jones	1907-12-22	Ogmore Vale	1929	433
43	Tommy Scourfield	1909-02-26	Pontypridd	1930	454
44	Hubert Day	1908-05-08	Griffithstown	1930	447
45	Con Murphy	1908-09-03	Aberfan	1935	491
46	Dai Prosser	1912-10-13	Neath	1934	488
47	Harold Thomas	1914-02-19	Neath	1936	501
48	Arthur Bassett	1914-06-28	Kenfig Hill	1934	490
49	Willie TH Davies	1916-08-23	Penclawdd	1936	503
50	Syd Williams	1918-04-17	Aberavon	1939	521
51	Eddie Watkins	1916-03-02	Caerphilly	1935	498
52	Idwal Davies	1915-11-10	Llanelli	1939	518
53	Emrys Evans	1911-04-24	Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen	1937	505
54	Elwyn Gwyther	1921-03-08	Swansea	1945
55	George Parsons	1926-04-21	Newbridge	1946	537
56	Les Williams	1922-05-10	Mynydd Y Garreg	1946	542
57	Terry Cook	1927-06-27	Bedwas	1949	561
58	Ray Cale	1922-07-18	Usk	1949	557
59	Lewis Jones	1931-04-11	Gorseinon	1950	569
60	Garfield Owen	1932-03-20	Llanharan	1955	605
61	Kel Coslett	1942-01-14	Bynea	1962	667
62	Colin Evans	1936-11-20	Blaenavon	1960	645
63	Terry Price	1945-07-16	Hendy	1964	695
64	David Watkins	1942-03-05	Newport	1963	681
65	John Warlow	1939-02-13	Dafen	1962	676
66	Bobby Wanbon	1943-11-16	Port Talbot	1968	723
67	John Mantle	1942-03-13	Cardiff	1964	690
68	Maurice Richards	1945-02-02	Ystrad	1964	727
69	Keith Jarrett	1948-05-18	Newport	1967	714
70	Stuart Ferguson	1946-07-19	Swansea	1968
71	Roy Mathias	1949-09-02	Llanelli	1970	739
72	John Bevan	1950-10-28	Tylorstown	1971	741
73	Stuart Gallacher	1946-05-22	Llanelli	1970	737
74	Glyn Turner	1947-03-22	Nantyglo	1968
75	Brian Butler	1948-02-16	Felinfoel	1968
76	Glyn Shaw	1951-04-11	Rhigos	1972	745
77	Clive Griffiths	1954-04-02	Loughor	1979	783
78	Steve Fenwick	1951-07-23	Nantgarw	1974	762
79	Tommy David	1948-04-02	Pontypridd	1971	747
80	Paul Ringer	1948-01-28	Leeds	1978	778
81	Brynmor Williams	1951-10-29	Cardigan	1974	772
82	John Devereux	1966-03-30	Bridgend	1986	830
83	Allan Bateman	1965-03-06	Caerau	1990	873
84	Jonathan Davies	1962-10-24	Trimsaran	1985	827
85	Jonathan Griffiths	1964-08-23	Carmarthen	1987	855
86	Dai Young	1967-07-26	Aberdare	1987	843
87	Mark Jones	1965-06-22	Tredegar	1986	840
88	Rob Ackerman	1961-03-02	Ebbw Vale	1980	787
89	Paul Moriarty	1964-07-16	Swansea	1986	833
90	Dai Bishop	1960-10-31	Cardiff	1984	819
91	Adrian Hadley	1963-03-01	Cardiff	1983	812
92	Rowland Phillips	1965-07-28	St David’s	1987	845
93	Gary Pearce	1960-11-11	Laugharne	1981	793
94	Richard Webster	1967-07-09	Swansea	1987	844
95	Scott Gibbs	1971-01-23	Bridgend	1991	889
96	Scott Quinnell	1972-08-20	Swansea	1993	911
97	Iestyn Harris	1976-06-25	Oldham	2001	995
98	Anthony Sullivan	1968-11-23	Hull	2001	996
99	Gareth Thomas	1974-07-25	Bridgend	1995	924
100	Rafiuke Taylor	1978-06-23	Cardiff	2013
101	Ffion Lewis	1996-06-29	Haverfordwest	2018
102	Rhi Parker	1989-08-18	Liss	2017
103	Bethan Dainton	1989-04-12	Hengoed	2016
104	Lowri Norkett	1995-04-05	Blackburn	2022
105	Bryonie King	2003-08-14	Merthyr Tydfil	2023

Quick Links – Men’s Heritage Numbers – Men’s A-Z

REPRESENTED WALES AS A RUGBY UNION AND RUGBY LEAGUE REFEREE			RU DEBUT
James Jones	17/05/1978	Swansea	2007
PLAYED FOR WALES RL AND ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL			AF DEBUT	FAW#
David Davies	12/05/1880	Llanelli	1904	223
PLAYED FOR WALES RL AND BRITISH BASEBALL			BB DEBUT
Jim Sullivan	02/12/1903	Cardiff	1921
D Ralph Morgan	15/01/1910	Newport	1946