Les Williams - Centre
Wales RLHeritage No | 219 |
Date Of Birth | 10/05/1922 |
Place Of Birth | Trimsaran |
Education | Cardiff Training College |
Clubs | Hunslet RLFC, Cardiff |
Regions | Scarlets, Cornwall, Devon |
Honours | Wales RL, Wales |
Known as one of sport's truly great gentlemen, Les Williams won 13 caps for Wales in the rugby union code then a further 15 in rugby league, making him Wales' 56th dual-code international. Born in Trimsaran, he was the first Welsh rugby international to come from the village, but which has since produced players such as Derek Quinnell and Jonathan Davies. While at school his main sporting interests were gymnastics, athletics and rugby, and given that his village was close to Llanelli, it was no surprise that he was later to join the Scarlets. He then went on to play for Cardiff, making his Wales debut in 1945. It was while he was at Devonport Services that he had his first taste of Cornish rugby, playing for the Duchy on four occasions against Gloucestershire, Somerset, and Devon (twice). In 1949, Les turned professional with Hunslet so he could provide funds to enable him to meet the costs of a PE training specialist course at Carnegie College in Leeds. He was selected for the Great Britain team to tour Australia, but turned down the invitation because he didn't think he could stretch his funds to tour. It was a decision he came to regret as when the players received their payout at the end of the tour it would have been sufficient to meet a whole year's fees at the college. In the late 1950s, Les moved to Cornwall where he was employed in the post of Cornwall assistant PE advisor and in the 1960s, despite being a former rugby league professional, he coached both Cornwall and Penryn RFC, guiding the county to the County Championship final at Redruth where they were beaten 11-3 by Lancashire. He eventually took up veterans athletics and won medals at local county, national and world level and at one time held four world records. He died peacefully at Sheldon Nursing home in Falmouth on January 27th 2006.
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