Bill Clement (rugby union)

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Bill Clement
Birth nameWilliam Harries Clement[1]
Date of birth(1915-04-09)9 April 1915
Place of birthLlanelli, Wales
Date of death10 February 2007(2007-02-10) (aged 91)
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight11 st 0 lb (70 kg)
SchoolLlanelli County School
Occupation(s)accountant
Rugby union career
Position(s) Wing
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
?
?–1938		 Felinfoel RFC
Llanelli RFC		 ()
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1937–1938
1938
British Isles
 6
0		 (3)
(0)

William Harries Clement

British Isles was seen as the best defensive wing of the decade.[4] In his later career he became Secretary of the Welsh Rugby Union
.

He served as an infantry officer in the British Army during the Second World War, and was decorated during the Normandy Campaign, and twice wounded.

Rugby playing career

Clement was selected to the Wales team while playing for Llanelli, the team he captained during the 1938/39 season. On 22 October 1935 he was part of the Llanelli team that faced the touring New Zealand national team.

In 1937 Clement was selected to represent the Welsh team as part of the 1937 Home Nations Championship under the captaincy of Claude Davey. It was a terrible campaign for Wales and Clement as the team lost all three matches; though Clement showed his team playing skills when he unselfishly set up a try for Wilf Wooller in the opening game against England.[3]

The selectors kept faith with Clement, and he returned for the entirety of the

British Isles in their 1938 tour of South Africa. This would be his last rugby campaign as a knee injury sustained in 1938 ended his playing career.[3]

International matches played

Wales[5]

Military career

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Clement was commissioned into the 4th Battalion of the

captain and temporary major, was part of a raid on enemy positions around Le Bon Repos, near Caen. Clement was in command of one of two companies of the Welch Regiment involved in the operation, but as they advanced down a 900-yard slope toward the objective, he and his men came under heavy fire and Clement was injured in his leg. They suffered high levels of casualties, one of Clement's platoons was all but wiped out, with just four survivors. Casualties with this platoon included one of just two other officers who had started the attack with Clement. He managed to rally his troops and engaged the enemy in close-quarter combat, killing at least 30. When ordered to withdraw, Clement remained until his wounded had been recovered, and only then returned to the rendezvous, where he finally agreed to receive medical treatment.[1][6] For his actions in this encounter he was awarded the Military Cross on 21 December 1944.[7] In 1945 he was wounded in action in the Netherlands, again while in charge of his company of the 4th Battalion.[1]

Clement remained in the

Territorial Efficiency Decoration for his long service on 29 April 1955,[8] and finally left the army when he reached the age limit for service, on 9 April 1965.[9]

Later life

After the end of the war, Clement returned to Wales, becoming an accountant in

Eric Evans became terminally ill.[10] One of his first duties was to solve the problem of a home international against Scotland in 1956, when the pitch at the Cardiff Arms Park was entirely frozen. Clements arranged for a team of men to keep braziers
burning on the pitch overnight in an identical solution to the same problem that affected the same pitch in 1893.

He was secretary throughout the Second Golden Age of Welsh rugby and along with treasurer Ken Harris is remembered for overseeing the rebuilding of the old Cardiff Arms Park. On his retirement in 1981 he was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to rugby.[11][12]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b c Bill Clement, The Daily Telegraph obituary, 3 April 2007. Retrieved on 28 October 2008.
  2. ^ Welsh Rugby Union player profiles[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ a b c Smith (1980), p. 295.
  4. ^ Smith (1980), p. 296.
  5. ^ Smith (1980), p. 464.
  6. The National Archives
    (fee may be required to view full original recommendation). Retrieved on 28 October 2008. A partial transcript is included in The Telegraphs obituary.
  7. ^ "No. 36850". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 December 1944. pp. 5854–5856.
  8. ^ "No. 40463". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 April 1955. p. 2471.
  9. ^ "No. 43621". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 April 1965. p. 3541.
  10. ^ Smith (1980), p. 355.
  11. ^ "No. 48467". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1980. pp. 9–10.
  12. ^ Wales' oldest international dies BBC Sport 2 December 2007
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