Dai ‘Tarw’ Jones – the rock on which 1905 was built

No game has been written about more than that fixture, no result has resonated for so long in the annals of the game. For Welsh rugby fans it is THE result from THE greatest game.

The All Blacks arrived in Wales for the first time having gone unbeaten in 27 matches, scored 801 points and conceded only 22. They had beaten England at Crystal Palace 15-0 on 2 December and not conceded a point in seven and a half matches – 600 minutes of rugby.

So many great stories have emanated from the game played on 16 December, 1905, which Wales won 3-0 after tactically matching Dave Gallaher’s men. Teddy Morgan scored the only try of the game to inflict the first international defeat suffered by New Zealand in their history.

His shirt from that match is the pride and joy of the Cardiff RFC archive collection, along with those worn by the brilliant centre pairing of Gwyn Nicholls and Rhys Gabe. Also in their archive is a gold medal presented to Gabe to mark the Welsh victory and a letter from him in 1947 regarding the controversial try for the All Blacks allegedly scored by Bob Deans.

The Canterbury centre wrote on his death-bed that he had scored in what was the only defeat suffered by Gallaher’s ‘Originals’ on their tour of the UK, Ireland and France. Deans claimed to have been pulled back from the try-line before the Scottish referee, John Dallas, wearing a collar, tie and jacket, had arrived on the scene after making up 30 yards.

Deans, a strapping centre who scored 16 tries on the tour, sent a telegraph to the Daily Mail after the match outlining his claims to the try. Even Morgan, along with a few other Welsh players, felt his claims were legitimate.

“Grounded ball six inches over line, some of Welsh players admit try, Hunter and Glasgow can confirm was pulled back before referee arrived” – Bob Deans

But not Gabe, the man who brought him down. In a letter to a fan in 1947 he refuted the Deans account, which was written down by him in 1908 after he was struck down by appendicitis. He unfortunately died at the age of only 24, but is still remembered at his old school, Christchurch Boys’ High School, where each year the best all-round boy is presented with the Robert Deans Scholarship.

“So much importance has been attached to the utterance of Deans on his death-bed. I can say when I shall be in the same condition that I who tackled him was positive that he did NOT score,” wrote an indignant Gabe.

In a later interview he expanded on the incident: “I knew it was touch and go whether I had managed to tackle him before he reached the line then, as I lay there gripping him firmly, I felt Deans trying to struggle away from me. Instinctively I clutched tighter. Then I realised why he wanted to wriggle on. He had not reached the line. He was just inches short. I pulled back with all my strength and then the whistle went.”

The New Zealand tour manager, George Dixon, writing in his account of the tour, claimed Deans had dived over the line and grounded the ball well over the chalk mark.

“He was at once dragged back. That this was an absolutely fair try there is overwhelming evidence, and it is most unfortunate that the referee should not have been on the spot to see what actually occurred” – George Dixon

And still the controversy rages on! Wales won three of the first four fixtures against New Zealand, but sadly hasn’t been able to add to that tally since Bleddyn Williams’ side triumphed in 1953.

Beating New Zealand, as much as not losing to Wales, has become a bit of an obsession for both nations, but for one Welsh player from that 1905 side it became something of a routine. While everyone remembers the golden greats from that team – Morgan the try scorer, Nicholls and Gabe the best centre pairing in the world, Dickie Owen the mercurial scrum half and Cliff Pritchard the roving three quarter – Dai Jones hardly ever gets a mention.

Dai ‘Tarw’, as he was known to his friends, was a typical Rhondda forward, seemingly hewn from the coalface at the colliery in Aberaman when he first worked.

A giant of a man, he was well over six feet tall and weighed in at more than 15 stones – the biggest player to have played for Wales up to that time.

His scrummaging ability and sheer hardness added missing ingredients to a Welsh team that was brimming with talent behind the scrum. He made his debut against England at the age of 20 and was an instant success in a game against England at Blackheath in which the selectors took a gamble and picked seven new caps, five of them in the pack.

Wales won the Triple Crown in his first season, finished runners-up to Scotland in 1903 and clinched a second Triple Crown in 1905. That set the side up for a real crack at the New Zealanders.

Although picked in the Possibles for the final Welsh trial ahead of the game with Gallaher’s men, Jones was one of two forwards to work his way into the team for the big day along with Jehoida Hodges. The trial took place two weeks before the big day and rugby fever was in the air from that moment.

Thousands of fans gathered at Cardiff Central Station to greet the All Blacks when they arrived by train from Yorkshire and there was a black market in tickets for the game. Both sides turned down the others first four suggestions for referee for the match and so it fell to Scotland to produce Dallas as an impartial official.

He was only 27, younger than both captains on the day, and was in his second season as a referee. He had played in the Scottish team that had beaten England to secure the Triple Crown.

On the big day, the crowds built up early in Westgate Street and St Mary Street and Welsh Football Union committee man Tom Williams, who had played once for Wales, came up with a plan to counteract the Haka. The Llwynypia solicitor wrote to the Western Mail and urged the spectators to join in the response to the tourists’ traditional war dance.

The Welsh regiment’s 2^nd Battalion Band had played ‘Men of Harlech’ to greet the two teams as they entered the pitch. Next up was the Haka. What happened next took everyone by surprise. The Welsh players, led by Teddy Morgan, began to sing ‘Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’.

There was no musical accompaniment, but soon the 42,000 crowd joined force with them. It was the first time the Welsh national anthem had been sung at an international match and one of the greatest traditions and sounds in the game of rugby was born.

Dai ‘Tarw’ was at the heart of the forward effort that eventually subdued the All Blacks and was one of three members of the Welsh pack who faced the tourists again four days later. This time it was as part of the Glamorgan team who were defending a five year unbeaten record.

The original selection had nine of the victorious Welsh team down to play, but six of the backs withdrew. This time the New Zealanders won 9-0 to make it 1-1 between them and Dai ‘Tarw’.

Jones’ career had begun at Treherbert, who won the Glamorgan League three years in a row, and he was also a regular captain of the Glamorgan County XV. He transferred to nearby Aberdare and, after winning his 13^th cap for Wales in the defeat to the 1906 Springboks, he fell foul of the authorities.

The story is taken up by David Smith and Gareth Williams in the WRU Centenary History, ‘Fields of Praise’: “In 1907 Aberdare were involved in an early rugby scandal linked to professionalism. Local collier Dai ‘Tarw’ Jones was one of Aberdare’s star players and captained the club from 1905 to 1907. For his services to the club he was paid 10 shillings a week along with meal costs and train fares. When the club cut the wage to 5 shillings, Jones switched allegiance to Treherbert, commuting from his home town of Aberdare on match days. Aberdare’s ex-secretary E. Rees in 1907 made several allegations in the press that broke multiple union rules. Not only did he mention the wages but also stated that leading teams had been paid to visit the town and stated Aberdare was involved in match fixing. During the 1904/05 season, Aberdare won the Glamorgan League by beating Treorchy in the last match.

“Rees claimed that Treorchy had agreed to lose the game for £15. The resulting investigation from the WRU, at the time still called the Welsh Football Union, spread far further than the two clubs mentioned by Rees. The union saw six players temporarily suspended, including Welsh international Fred Scrine, Merthyr escaped with a warning but Treorchy and Aberdare saw the permanent suspension of their entire committees. The union also permanently suspended eight players, including Jones who switched to rugby league.”

Dai ‘Tarw’ was only 25 when he switched to the Treherbert Northern Union club and soon made his mark in the 13-a-side code. He was picked to play for Wales against the 1907-08 New Zealand rugby league touring team, known as the ‘All Golds’, and had the distinction of scoring the third and final Welsh try in a 9-8 victory in front of 20,000 fans at Aberdare Park on 1 January, 1908.

That game is recognised as the first rugby league international between two nations. A few weeks later he was in the Great Britain side that met the tourists in the first rugby league Test match. He ended up on the winning side in that game as well, 14-6 at Headingley, before falling for the first time in the second Test in Cheltenham.

He missed the third and final Test and so ended with an enviable record of three wins and a defeat to New Zealand in international matches. In later life he became a policeman and then a publican, running the Eagle Hotel in Aberdare, and the Castle Hotel in Treherbert.

In WW1 he served in the Welsh Guards and was badly wounded on the Somme, leaving him with injuries that affected him right through to his death in 1933 at the age of 51.