His one and only cap came in his first season after he switched from Neath to Llanelli in 1953/54. He featured in the Scarlets’ side that went down 17-3 to the 1953 All Blacks and then won his international cap against Ireland in 1954.
Thomas was one of six new caps drafted into the side to travel to Dublin in the wake of a 9-6 defeat at Twickenham in the opening game of the Five Nations championship. Thomas was in good company in making his debut, being joined by legendary lock Rhys Williams and hooker Bryn Meredith.
Back row forwards Leighton Jenkins and Brian Sparks were other debutants, as was Neath full back Viv Evans. The 34-year-old Evans kicked three penalties in the 12-9 win, but it was Thomas’s drop goal in the last minute at Lansdowne Road that earned a hard-fought victory.
He learned his rugby at Llandeilo and Ystalyfera Grammar Schools before studying to be a school teacher at Bangor Normal College and then Cardiff College of Education. He played for Brynamman, Skewen and Neath before joining Llanelli.
He also played for Bath, Cwmgors, the RAF and Tenby United. He was a schoolmaster in Bridgend before spending 30 years as a Sports Master at Greenhill Grammar School in Tenby.
Thomas, who lost his wife, Dilys, a Domesitc Science teacher at Greenhill, in 2000, had to deal with a tragic episode during his time as a teacher at Greenhill when one of his three sons, Roger, suffered a severe fracture of his spine in a game in which his father was the referee.
Roger, in his final year in school and set to follow his elder brother Hywel in studying medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School. He nearly died from his injuries but was saved by the skill of the neuro-orthopaedic team at the Cardiff Royal Infirmary.
Through the loving care of his devoted mother and father, the wheelchair-bound Roger was able to leave home to attend Aberystwyth University, where he achieved a first class degree in mathematics. During this time, his father built a new family home at Coed-y-Glyn in Tenby, designed with Roger’s disability in mind.
Roger eventually got married and, with his new wife Jayne, went to the USA for pioneering fertility treatment that ended with the couple having three children, Trystan and twins Heulwen and Iolo. He eventually died in 2009.
Denzil Thomas died after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease on Monday, 17 February.Â
