William Gwyn Hullin was born in Loughor on 2 January, 1942, and went on to win Welsh Schools caps from Dynevor Grammar School. He played for Mumbles before graduating onto the first-class scene with Aberavon.
He was part of the Wizards’ side that won the Unofficial Welsh Championship and then had a short spell at Swansea before moving to Cardiff. A banker, he spent six seasons at the Arms Park club, playing 152 games and scoring 43 tries.
An acknowledged seven-a-side expert, Hullin helped Cardiff win the Snelling Sevens title in 1966 and 1969 before moving to London Welsh and featuring in three successful sides in the Middlesex Sevens.
His greatest moment in a Cardiff jersey came on 5 November, 1966, when he scored a try, made the break for another and dropped a goal to help the Blue and Blacks maintain their unbeaten record against the Wallabies. His kicking in that game nursed his forwards through the contest and his all-round performance led to him making his only international appearance three months later at Murrayfield as one of six new caps.
His half-back partner in Scotland was Barry John, then still playing at Llanelli, but the two were blamed for kicking too much in a disappointing 11-5 defeat in front of a 70,000 crowd.
Both players were axed by the Big Five for the home game against Ireland a month later, Allan Lewis and David Watkins returning in their place, and that was the end of Hullin’s international career. John, of course, four games later after Watkins head north to Salford and became a legend.
It didn’t help Hullin’s cause that another future great, a then teenage Gareth Edwards, burst onto the international scene while still a student at Cardiff College of Education. He replaced Lewis in the away game in France and played 53 consecutive games for Wales.
Hullin moved to London in 1969 and joined London Welsh, where he was in on the ground floor of their rugby revolution. He played for the Old Deer Park outfit for seven years and also played for Surrey and London Counties.
A Barbarian tourist and captain in South Africa in 1969, he also skippered the Welsh Presidents 7 in the Ulster Invitation Centenary Sevens at Ravenhill in 1975.
By then he was a manager with Lloyds Bank and he finally returned to Wales via Bristol to Newport, retiring to live at Bettws Newydd, near Usk.
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