When a ‘Hair Bear’ visited Llantwit Major RFC
Former Welsh International prop forwards were in top form
Llantwit Major RFC was delighted to host a fundraising evening for Velindre Cancer Hospital and, with former Welsh International prop forwards Huw Williams-Jones and Adam Jones in top form, more than £6,750 will be donated to that good cause.
Huw Williams-Jones was the MC and the Bryncethin-born former policeman turned out to be a real star. He played for Bridgend and Pontypridd before joining South Wales Police in 1984, making 355 appearances. He then joined Llanelli where he played 128 times before retiring in 1998.
Huw was a rare breed of prop, equally home on either side of the scrum. As well as gaining 17 Welsh caps, he sat on the bench on 31 occasions without taking the field. In 1993 he played in that memorable Wales win that denied England a Grand Slam and was an ever present in the 1994 Wales Grand Slam squad.
Huw introduced Lisa Morgan, who is no stranger to the club as her son Luke played rugby for Llantwit. Lisa was the driving force behind the evening. She has been a supporter of Velindre as her mum was a patient in 2015, as were some dear friends. In November 2019, a routine chest X-ray followed by several months of tests saw Lisa diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer and in the same week, her brother Mal Preest was diagnosed with the same lung cancer.
Things moved quickly and within a week she had surgery followed by three months chemo at Velindre. Every day she counts her blessings and is eternally grateful to the medical teams at Llandough, UWH, and Velindre for saving her life. Heartbreakingly Mal lost his long battle in January2023. Losing Mal was a devastating blow and Lisa has focussed on giving something back to Velindre and is determined to raise as much as possible for ‘Wales Hospital of Hope’.
A trek to Cuba has already been completed and another trek is planned for 2025 (led by Rhod Gilbert) details of which can be found on ‘Lisa, Mia Marion’s Patagonia trek for Velindre’ fundraising page.
A superb meal followed courtesy of Jumes Thai Kitchen. Huw then introduced special guest Adam Jones. He made 40 appearances for Neath, followed by 195 games for the Ospreys and then 24 games for Cardiff, finishing his club career with 30 appearances for the Harlequins. On the international front he won 95 caps for Wales with five Lions tests too.
In 2018, Adam began his coaching career with Harlequins and seems destined to make an impact on the Welsh coaching scene at some stage. He is one of the small group of Welsh players to have won three Grand Slams – JPR, Gerald Davies, Gareth Edwards, Ryan Jones, Gethin Jenkins and Alun Wynn-Jones are the others.
Adam received criticism in his early days over a perceived lack of fitness and scrummaging strength but Adam’s ability to scrum low saw him give many loose heads a torrid time! After making his Wales debut as a sub v England in 2003, Adam went on to play every game in the 2003 World Cup before starting all five games in the Grand Slam winning side of 2005 with Gethin Jenkins at loose head.
When Warren Gatland came aboard, a slimmed down Adam was picked for the 2009 Lions trip to South Africa where he formed an all-Wales test front row alongside Mathew Rees and Gethin Jenkins, but a shoulder injury in the second test saw Adam sidelined for six months. His return to action with the Ospreys saw him join Duncan Jones as the hair bears!
Huw and Adam went on to entertain with a revealing question and answer session and an insight and reflection on rugby at the highest level, including some incredible highs and a few down to earth lows. Adam has great memories of a wonderful rugby career that saw a typical Swansea valley boy become one of the best props in the world. He never forgot where it all started and talked about the friendships he made along the way.
He told of how he found it surreal to meet his boyhood hero Jason Leonard – a favourite of his mum’s – and he picked ‘Tonyrefail’ Woodcock of New Zealand as the best loosehead he played against. Unsurprisingly, Shane Williams was his choice of most talented team-mate. Adam also has a lot of time for Joe Marler – not the most popular prop in Wales – but Joe was a huge support as a roommate on Harlequins’ pre-season tour, when Adam received a phone call from his wife telling him his mum June had died in a tragic accident at home.
Adam reflected on the people who helped him achieve success in rugby, especially his mum and dad who went everywhere to support him, with mum extremely knowledgeable. Lyn Jones, Rowland Philips and Mike Ruddock made a big impression. Adam’s advice to youngsters starting off is to enjoy it, don’t worry about position or anything else, just enjoy playing and who knows what can happen?
Proceedings ended with a fabulous raffle and auction which helped raise the total for Velindre to £6,750 on the night. Lisa once again thanked to all who donated prizes and memorabilia for the auction, and everyone offered a huge thank you to Velindre.
Report and photos by Dai Griffiths
This article first appeared in the Glamorgan Star newspaper’s printed edition on Thursday 31st October 2024.
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