Dai Morgan Davies - Half back
Wales RLHeritage No | 107 |
Date Of Birth | 05/05/1902 |
Place Of Birth | Ammanford |
Clubs | Keighley Cougars, Huddersfield Giants, Warrington Wolves, Broughton Rangers |
Honours | Wales RL, Other Nationalities |
Invitational | Rugby League XIII |
Dai Morgan Davies played rugby union for Amman United and Neath before turning professional with Broughton Rangers in 1926. After 55 appearances and six tries there, he joined Warrington for £250. He remained with Warrington for eight seasons, winning one trophy, scoring a try in Warrington's 10–9 victory over St.Helens in the 1932 Lancashire Cup Final. So after 196 appearances and 34 tries for Warrington, he joined Huddersfield for whom he appeared in a third Challenge Cup Final and was again on the losing side after two defeats with Warrington. He scored two tries and two goals in his 33 Huddersfield appearances, then moved to Keighley in August 1936 for a fee of £200, and captained them in their only Challenge Cup final to date, a 5–18 defeat by Widnes. That final was his last game, he turned out 35 times for Keighley, scoring 12 tries and one goal, and he became a coach for the Warrington Junior Rugby League, a post he held until the Second World War. The record of playing in four Challenge Cup finals and being on the losing team in all of them was an unwanted record that Davies held until Paul Loughlin played in five losing finals in the 1980s and 1990s. In addition to his Welsh caps, Dai made three appearances for the Rugby League XIII between 1929 and 1934. Appearances for Great Britain eluded him. He played in two trial matches for the 1932 tour to Australia and New Zealand but he was not picked for the touring squad. He did make five appearances for the Glamorgan, later Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, county teams in the County Championship and one game for the county against Australia. Having left school aged 14, Dai had started his working career in the collieries of his native South Wales and throughout his rugby career held other jobs to supplement his rugby payments. After leaving the game during the Second World War he returned to Wales and resumed a career as a pitman. After the war he ran a pub in Warrington while also working as part of the Warrington club's coaching staff. A final return to Wales in 1952 followed and for the remainder of his working life he worked in the pits. He died on February 22nd 1992, aged 89.
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