Player Profile

Oliver Morris played five times for Wales and once for a Northern Command XIII during World War II. He started his rugby union with Llanelli RFC but became a key part of the Pontypridd side in the mid-to-late 1930s as their fly-half. He actually became the first player from the Pontypridd club to ‘go north’ when he turned professional in November 1937 with Hunslet. Weighing just nine and a half stones, there was great doubts about his ability to make it in professional rugby league but he did do extremely well and could have become one of the best stand-offs ever had war not intervened. He stayed with Hunslet for nearly two years, scoring 21 tries in 55 appearances, playing their 8–2 victory over local rivals Leeds in the 1938 Championship Final. Moving to Leeds a year later, he eventually turned out 61 times for them, scoring 44 tries and kicking 33 goals. He also guested for Castleford during the war. He helped Leeds to two Challenge Cup Final wins in a row, in 1941 and 1942. During the war, he became a Lieutenant in the Welch Regiment, and was killed in Italy, during the fighting around Rimini, on 21 September 1944 aged 27.