Player Profile

Richard Williams, or "Dickie" as he was known to everyone, became Wales' 17th captain, leading us five times in his last seven caps, the first being against England on October 14 1950. In addition to his 13 Wales appearances, he won 12 caps for Great Britain, five of which were on the 1950 Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand. He captained Great Britain twice in 1951 when the Kiwis came over to British shores. He went on to achieve the ultimate honour by captaining the 1954 Lions. A rugby union player with his local side Mountain Ash, he won Wales Schoolboys honours. Then in 1944, when aged 19, he turned up at St Helens wanting a trial for Leeds who had an away match there, after being recommended by fellow Welshman Tommy Cornelius. He was currently an employee of Bristol Aircraft Company and had taken his BSC at King's College, London a few months earlier. He played well and with Leeds not having a quality stand-off at the time, their manager Eddie Waring signed him up. At Leeds, he won Yorkshire Cup honours in 1947, scoring a try in the drawn final, and a Yorkshire League medal in 1951. Later that year, a serious injury whilst playing for Wales limited his Leeds appearances, so he eventually moved over the city to Hunslet in December 1953 for £1,000, where he made 44 appearances before retiring in 1956. His career match total was 329 first class games, scoring 97 tries. Employed in Leeds' Engineering Department at the Civic Hall, before taking up a lecturing appointment at the College of Technology. He died in Leeds on March 26 1997 aged 72.