JJ Williams
Born in Nantyffyllon nr. Maesteg and educated at Maesteg Comprehensive School. He represented Welsh Schools at Outside Half and in the same year was the British School 100m and 200m champion.
On entering Cardiff College of Education he concentrated on his athletics career and represented Wales at the 1970 Commonwealth Games. He also represented Great Britain in the World student games in Turin. After turning his attention back to rugby he first played for Bridgend RFC, playing 99 Games and scoring 100 Tries. He then joined Llanelli and played in the famous victory over the New Zealand All Blacks, and also won 4 Welsh Cup Final Medals with the Scarlets.
(Image Copyright Robert Davies)
He received his 1st Cap for Wales in 1973 and went onto win another 30 Caps for his Country – all consecutive. He won 4 Triple Crowns and 2 Grand Slams. He is the only Welsh man to have scored a Hat Trick against Australia. His most notable achievements came in the famous Lions tour of 1974 when he became the first player to score 4 Tries in a Test series in South Africa. He also holds the distinguished record of being the highest try scorer in one match for the Lions – scoring 6 Tries. He also toured New Zealand with the 1977 Lions scoring 12 Tries on the tour and scoring the winning try in the 2nd Test victory at Christchurch. He is now a successful businessman and his 3 children (Kathryn, James and Rhys) are all International Athletes.
