Viv Jenkins
1933-1939
Viv Jenkins, one of Wales greatest all-round sportsmen. The first player to score a try for his country from full back, the Port Talbot-born Jenkins also played county cricket for Glamorgan.He was vice-captain of Sam Walker's 1938 British and Irish Lions tour party to South Africa, playing in the first test.
Educated at Llandovery College and Oxford University, Jenkins was a double Blue at university, playing at centre for Oxford in 1930, 31 and 32, winning two and drawing one, and then figuring in the varsity cricket match at Lords in 1933.
He played county cricket for Glamorgan between 1931-37, scoring 1,072 runs in 69 innings.
He won the first of his 14 caps in Wales' first win over England at Twickenham on January 21, 1933 and kicked two conversions in the famous 13-12 victory over Jack Manchester's 1935 New Zealand All Blacks in Cardiff. His final cap was the 3-0 defeat by England at Twickenham on January 21, 1939.
A schoolteacher in Dover and London in his playing days, Jenkins served in the anti-aircraft command in World War 2. After the war he became one of the world's most respected rugby writers, beginning his career on the News of the World before switching to the Sunday Times.
Sadly Viv died on the 8th January 2004.
