By Elliott West
“I used to say that I spent half my life breaking bones on the rugby field, then the other half putting them back together in the operating theatre”.
JPR Williams
Introduction
Caked mud, a mist of breath, the sweat and heat of the scrum, all synonymous with the intensity of a rugby match. One of the giants of Welsh rugby has to be John Peter Rhys Williams, a rugby player who dominated the sport in the 1970s. Instantly recognisable for his long sideburns and socks that were rolled down with precision, the initials JPR are tattooed in our memories. An orthopaedic surgeon off the pitch, he guided the ball like a scalpel with ultimate precision on it. A try scored in the blink of an eye, a man on a mission with a no-nonsense approach. A player who perfectly complemented his Welsh teammates of Barry John, Gareth Edwards and Phil Bennett.
A Force and a Gentleman
“A forest animal, he was blessed with a sixth sense for the presence of danger, an element which he often sought and loved”.
Carwyn James
If you could pick any player who would be the perfect full-back in a game of rugby, my choice would always be JPR Williams. He had a prowess on the pitch that few could emulate. Dig out any episode of Rugby Special from this period and you will be transfixed with his play and how good he was as a player. His crowning moment of glory has to be his involvement in a sensational try by Gareth Edwards whilst playing for the Barbarians against New Zealand in 1973. Williams produced a sensational manoeuvre from one end of the pitch to the other, causing the crowd to erupt. A run that lasted 22 seconds.
A player from the golden era of Welsh rugby, JPR was a Celtic force who could do no wrong. He wore that bold red shirt with pride. A fine amateur who played for Bridgend, St Mary’s Hospital, London Welsh, the Barbarians and Tondu, JPR had an impressive career representing his country from 1968 to 1981 and also at the British Lions from 1971 to 1974. A Grammar Scholboy from Bridgend came along, joining a small group of players who won three Grand Slams (1971, 1976 and 1978). A group made up of Gerald Davies, Gareth Edwards, Ryan Jones, Adam Jones, Gethin Jenkins and Alun Wyn Jones.
Williams who was originally a skilled cricket and tennis player, winning a British junior competition at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, moved to rugby and quickly was picked to represent Wales after playing for London Welsh. Earning his first cap at the age of 19 in 1969 at Murrayfield against Scotland, he would go on to earn 55 caps, including five as captain and eight for the British Lions. Caps that included 37 wins, four draws and 14 defeats. In all of his ten appearances against England, JPR was never on the losing side and scored five tries. John had a style where he didn’t like kicking but preferred the counterattack.
Honoured
Born in 1949 and the son of two GPs, JPR was able to work his medical career and rugby in tandem as rugby was still an amateur game at the time. A perfect combination that paid off and essentially worked. A student at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, he qualified as a physician in 1973. A master of his field, he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1980 and in 1986 was appointed as a consultant in trauma and orthopaedic surgery at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend.
Decorated in 1977 with an MBE for his services to rugby, he also appeared on This Is Your Life in 1979 and was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 1997. Married with four children, John sadly passed away aged 74 on 8 January 2024 at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff after a short illness.
