Bryn Meredith

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Bryn Meredith
Birth nameBrinley Victor Meredith
Date of birth (1930-10-21) 21 October 1930 (age 93)
Place of birthAbersychan, Wales
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight87 kg (13 st 10 lb)
SchoolWest Monmouth Grammar School
UniversitySt. Luke's College, Exeter
Children3 - Simon, Sarah, Lucy
Rugby union career
Position(s)
Hooker
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
Devonport Services R.F.C.
London Welsh RFC
Newport RFC
Barbarian F.C.
()
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1954-1962
1955-1962
British Lions
34
8
(9)
(3)

Brinley "Bryn" Victor Meredith

hooker, he was selected 34 times for Wales
between 1954 and 1962, but missed 2 matches for health and family bereavement reasons.

British Lion

In 1955 he was part of the

British Lions tour of South Africa, in which the British tourists shared the Test series against South Africa 2-2 and Meredith scored his record six tries, including the pick of the second international in Cape Town. The Lions lost, but their hooker enhanced his reputation by winning a crucial strike in the scrum and then having the pace to get himself among the three-quarters and pop up outside centre Phil Davies
to take a scoring pass.

On the 1955 Lions Tour the all-Welsh front row of

British and Irish Lions
front row for the 2nd Test against South Africa.

In 1959, Meredith was a Lion again, but found himself in the unfortunate position of competing against tour captain Ronnie Dawson for a place in the Test team. Consequently, he finished as the only Lion not to appear in an international, although many judges felt he should have been selected for the final match of the series.

Captaincy of the team against the Junior All Blacks was a small consolation, but he never complained about his lot and even appeared as a flanker when injuries demanded on the Australian leg of the tour.

In 1962, Meredith was a live candidate for the tour captaincy himself, and although he missed out to

Arthur Smith
he added to his reputation in South Africa once more with another excellent tour capped by appearances in all four Tests.

He retired at the end of that tour, having played eight Tests for the Lions. He was voted his country's sportsman of the year in his final season.

Club career

Meredith played his club rugby for

London Welsh and Newport
. He is generally considered to be one of the finest forwards of all time, and is almost obligatorily found in selections of "the greatest Welsh Rugby Teams of all time".

References