Jamie Roberts had been picked out for a similar accolade on the 2009 tour and there are plenty of other Welsh candidates from earlier trips who left indelible marks through their excellence. Wales’ first Lion was Willie Thomas, who went on the inaugural tour to New Zealand and Australia in 1888.
No Tests were played on that trip and there were no Welsh players on the 1891 and 1896 tours to South Africa. Gwyn Nicholls was the star turn on the 1899 tour to Australia, becoming the first Welsh player to play in a Lions Test, and Reg Skrimshire ended up as the leading scorer on the 1903 tour to South Africa after playing in all bar one match.
WELSH CENTRES IN LIONS TEST MATCHES
| 1891 | No Welsh Players on Tour | |
| 1896 | No Welsh Players on Tour | |
| 1899 | Gwyn Nicholls | Aus 1,2,3,4 |
| 1903 | Reg Skrimshire | SA 1,2,3 |
| 1904 | Rhys Gabe | Aus 1,2,3 NZ |
| 1908 | Jack Jones | NZ 1,2,3 |
| 1910 | Jack Jones | SA 1,2,3 |
| 1924 | Harold Davies | SA 2 |
| Vince Griffiths | SA 3,4 | |
| 1930 | No Selections | |
| 1938 | No Selections | |
| 1950 | Jack Matthews | NZ 1,2,3 Aus 1,2 |
| Bleddyn Williams | NZ 2,3 Aus 1,2 | |
| 1955 | No Selections | |
| 1959 | Malcolm Price | Aus 1,2 NZ 1,3 |
| Malcolm Thomas | NZ 2 | |
| 1962 | Ken Jones | SA 1,2,3 |
| 1966 | Ken Jones | Aus 1,2 NZ 1 |
| 1968 | Gerald Davies | SA 3 |
| 1971 | John Dawes | NZ 1,2,3,4 |
| 1974 | No Selections | |
| 1977 | Steve Fenwick | NZ 1,2,3,4 |
| Dai Burcher | NZ 3 | |
| 1980 | Ray Gravell | SA 2,3,4 |
| Dai Richards | SA 1 | |
| 1983 | Rob Ackerman | NZ 1 |
| 1989 | Mike Hall | Aus 1 |
| 1993 | Scott Gibbs | NZ 2,3 |
| 1997 | Scott Gibbs | SA 1,2,3 |
| 2001 | No Selections | |
| 2005 | Gareth Thomas | NZ 2,3 |
| Gavin Henson | NZ 2 | |
| 2009 | Jamie Roberts | SA 1,2 |
| 2013 | Jonathan Davies | Aus 1,2,3 |
| Jamie Roberts | Aus 3 | |
| 2017 | Jonathan Davies | NZ 1,2,3 |
Davies equalled the Welsh record for the number of appearances at centre for the Lions with his sixth successive Test in 2017. That enabled him to join Ken Jones and Jack Jones.
Jack Jones, who died on 19 March, 1951, was another Welshman who picked up the ‘Player’s Player of the Tour’ award on the first of his two trips. That was on the ‘Anglo-Welsh’ tour to Australia and New Zealand.
He was joined on that trip by his brother, ‘Tuan’, who also played for Pontypool and Wales, and they became the second set of brothers to play in a Test match together for the Lions after the Bromets, William and Edward, in South Africa in 1891.
Another brother, David ‘Ponty’ Jones, played once for Wales on the wing against Ireland in 1907, while Jack and Tuan teamed up in two Tests in 1908. Tuan also won one Welsh cap in 1913.
Jack Jones was crowned the ‘Prince of Centres’ while on his second Lions tour in South Africa in 1910. He captained the side in the first Test in Kimberley, dropping a goal in a 14-10 defeat, making it seven Tests in a row that a Welshman had led the Lions in an international (Teddy Morgan v Aus 2,3 NZ 1904; Boxer Harding v NZ 1,2,3 1908).
He played his first game for Pontypool while still 16 and polished his rugby at Christ College, Brecon. He was a reserved for the 1905 game between Wales and New Zealand and played against the 1906 Springboks for Monmouthshire.
His selection for the 1908 Lions tour meant he played in three Tests for them before winning the first of his 14 Welsh caps. That came in the 1908 win over Australia in Cardiff, while his final cap was against England at Twickenham in 1921.
He played throughout the 1909 Grand Slam campaign, scoring twice in the win over France, and was also in the Welsh side that played in the first international at Twickenham against England in 1910.
He died at the age of 65 in Llantarnham on 19 March, 1951.
