• Source: Swansea RFC

Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premiership. The club play at St Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea and are also known as The Whites, in reference to their home kit colours.




History


The club was founded in 1872 as an association football team, switching to the rugby code in 1874, and in 1881 it became one of the eleven founder clubs of the Welsh Rugby Union.

In the early twentieth century Swansea RFC was an extremely successful club. For four consecutive seasons Swansea were the unofficial Welsh champions from the 1898–99 season through to 1901/02, coinciding with the heyday of Swansea's first star player Billy Bancroft. Under the captaincy of Frank Gordon the team would later go on a 22-month unbeaten run, from December 1903 through to October 1905. During this period Swansea appeared to be under-represented at international level. Gordon himself went uncapped throughout his entire career, and apart from Billy Trew, Dick Jones and Dicky Owen, the only other internationals in the senior team were forward Sid Bevan (1 cap), wing Jowett (1 cap) and outside-half Phil Hopkins (4 caps). Trew (29 caps) was an outstanding centre who was accepted as one of the most important players in the evolution of Welsh rugby, while Dicky Owen (35 caps), although only 5-foot 4 inches tall, was an incredible tactician.
The immediate post war years brought only limited success, although a notable 6–6 draw was achieved against New Zealand in 1953 followed by a 9–8 victory against Australia in 1966. It was not until the club's centenary season in 1973/74, however, that the club became Merit Table Champions. Swansea achieved further success as club champions in 1979/80, 1980/81, 1982/83 as well as Welsh cup winners in 1978.
Players during this period included Clem Thomas, Billy Williams, Dewi Bebb, Mervyn Davies, Geoff Wheel, David Richards and Mark Wyatt, the club's record points scorer with 2,740 points scored between 1976/77 and 1991/92.
The 1990s saw success for the club, including being league champions on 4 occasions (1991/92, 1993/94, 1997/98 and 2000/01) and Welsh cup winners in 1995 and 1999. A memorable 21–6 victory was recorded over then World champions Australia at St Helens on 4 November 1992. In season 1995/96 Swansea reached the semi-final stage of the European Cup. This period also included disputes with the Welsh Rugby Union over the way the league structure was being run in Wales following rugby union's move to being a professional game, which culminated in the club's boycott of the 1998/99 league season, in what was referred to as the rebel season.
The 2003/04 season has seen a significant change with the introduction of regional rugby in Wales. Swansea Rugby Football Club Ltd, alongside Neath RFC are co-owners of the Ospreys. As a result, Swansea RFC returned to being an amateur team. Since the change to regional rugby Several players have played for Swansea RFC, as well Ospreys and Wales including Alun Wyn Jones, Ryan Jones, Scott Baldwin, Nicky Smith, Matthew Morgan, Eli Walker, Gavin Henson and Dan Biggar.
In 2014 the All Whites were relegated from the Welsh Premier league on the final day of the season when despite beating Neath at St Helens, a bonus point for Aberavon sent Swansea into the SWALEC Championship. This provoked a complete revamp of the club with Stephen Hughes taking the position of Chairman, Keith Colclough as Managing Director and Richard Lancaster leading a coaching team of former players including Rhodri Jones, Chris Loader and Ben Lewis. In their first season Swansea missed out on promotion back to the Premiership, finishing in second place overall, but were consequently promoted in the 15/16 season along with Merthyr, RGC 1404 and Bargoed.
Swansea struggled to adapt to the Premiership in their first two seasons back at the top flight although despite a crippling injury list, the 17/18 season showed much promise with the side recording five wins, a draw and 10 losing bonus points for losing the game within 7 points.
The 2018/19 season is a hugely important season for the club with potentially five clubs being relegated from the Welsh Premiership in order for the league to contain 12 teams in the 19/20 season. The coaching team of Richard Lancaster, Hugh Gustafson, Ben Lewis, Nick Roberts and Liam Carpener-Jones are currently preparing a squad consisting of many of the 17/18 squad along with new additions which are being announced on the club website regularly.




Achievements


Swansea RFC defeated New Zealand 11–3 on Saturday 28 September 1935, becoming the first ever club side to beat the All Blacks. The victory also made them the first club team to beat all three of the major touring teams to Britain; they had previously beaten Australia in 1908 and South Africa in 1912.
In November 1992, Swansea RFC defeated world champions Australia 21–6, when Australia played their first match of their Welsh Tour.
Welsh Premier Division champions in:

1991/1992
1993/1994
1997/1998
2000/2001
Welsh Cup champions in:

1977/1978
1994/1995
1998/1999
Whitbread Merit Table champions in:

1980/1981
Snelling Sevens champions in:

1982
1989
1991
1995




Club officials


Honorary president: Stan Addicott
Chairmen: Stephen Hughes
Managing Director: Keith Colclough
Honorary Secretary: Alun Donovan
Board Members: David Blyth, Paul Whapham, Siwan Lillicrap
Former Players Association Chair: Huw Rees




Current Team Management


Director of Rugby: Richard Lancaster
Team Manager: Chris James
Assistant coach: Hugh Gustafson
Assistant coach: Ben Lewis
Assistant coach: Nick Roberts
Assistant coach: J Rhys Williams
Assistant coach: Liam Carperner-Jones
Team Physios: Nikki Donovan, Jessica Hegarty
Team Doctors: Dr Katy Guy, Dr Daniel Eckford, Dr Craig Dyson
Equipment Managers: Ian Hopkins, John Mcknight




Current squad


Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.




British and Irish Lions


The following former players were selected for the British and Irish Lions touring squads while playing for Swansea RFC.




Wales International Captains


The following former players captained the Wales national rugby union team while playing for Swansea RFC.
See also Wales rugby union captains




Other notable former players


The players listed below have played for Swansea and have also played international rugby.




Games played against international opposition






Bibliography


Smith, David; Williams, Gareth (1980). Fields of Praise: The Official History of The Welsh Rugby Union. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-0766-3.




References






External links


Swansea RFC/The Whites
Welsh Rugby Union

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Y Ddraig Goch
• Perintah perang pada Pertempuran Somme
• Swansea RFC
• Swansea (disambiguation)
• Ospreys (rugby union)
• Welsh regional rugby
• Swansea University RFC
• Swansea
• Swansea City A.F.C.
• Swansea Uplands RFC
• Cardiff RFC
• Max Nagy