Arthur ‘Candy’ Evans was a Welsh amateur heavyweight boxing champion and Fred Parfitt not only won the Triple Crown with Wales at rugby in 1893, but also in bowls. He won nine international caps at rugby and played for Wales at bowls over a 20 year period.
Wilf Wooller led Glamorgan to their first County Championship title in 1948 and Keith Jarrett played for the Welsh county against both the Indian and Pakistan tourists.
Among the lesser-known all-rounders are three great stalwarts of Newport Athletic Club, Bert Dauncey, Louis Phillips and Tom Pearson. Their talents extended in many sports and earned them many more international honours than they earned on the rugby field.
All three played together for Newport under the captaincy of Dauncey in the 1897-98 season. Pearson won the race to international hours, winning the first of his 14 caps on the wing while a Cardiff Player in 1891, while Dauncey earned his three caps in 1896. Phillips won four caps as a half-back in 1900 and 1901.
FREDERICK HUBERT DAUNCEY
Born in Pontypool, he went to Abergavenny Grammar School and eventually became a solicitor. He scored 96 tries in 190 appearances as a three-quarter for Newport.
He was a member of the 1891-92 Newport Invincible side, scoring 12 tries in 16 outings, and followed that up with 18 tries the next season. He was vice-captain at Rodney Parade in 1896-97 and captain the following season.
He was first picked to play for Wales against Scotland in 1894, but an injury the week before playing against Llanelli forced him to pull out. He eventually won three caps in the 1896 Home Nations Championship.
He also won international honours for Wales in tennis and he captained the Welsh tennis team at the Inter-County Championships in 1904. He was a regular in the side that played in the Inter-County tournament all the way through to 1914, often playing with Tom Pearson.
He was captain of the Newport side from 1902-1913, secretary from 1892-96 and secretary of the Welsh Championship Tournament 1905-11. He won the South Wales and Monmouthshire singles title in 1904 and at the 1906 Welsh Tennis Championships he partnered Wimbledon champion May Sutton in a mixed doubles match.
He also played hockey for Newport, captaining the club in 1902, and was Hon Secretary to the Newport Athletic Club from 1905-22. Two sons of his went on to play for Newport.
LOUIS AUGUSTUS PHILLIPS
Born in Stow Hill and educated at Monmouth Boys Grammar School, he became an architect. On the rugby field he played 80 games for Newport between 1897-1901 and won four caps for Wales.
He was a Triple Crown winner in 1900, partnering his Newport team mate Llewellyn Lloyd at half-back. He was one of six new caps in the side that beat England 13-3 at Gloucester and then helped Wales to beat Scotland 12-3 at St Helen’s and the Irish 3-0 in Belfast.
His fourth cap, in an 18-8 defeat in Inverleith against the Scots, was his final appearance after he picked up a knee injury that ended his rugby career.
A strong swimmer, international standard water polo player and good cricketer, his ‘second’ sport was golf. He won the Welsh amateur title at his first attempt at Porthcawl in 1907, was runner-up the next year and triumphed again at Porthcawl in 1912.
In 1913, he was second in the Irish Championships and he reached the last eight, the sixth round, at The Amateur Championships in 1914. He also played golf for Wales against Ireland and was one of the founding members of Newport Golf Club in 1903..
He was killed in WW1 while serving in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, cut down at Cambrai on 14 March, 1916 aged 38.
THOMAS WILLIAM RORY PEARSON
Born in Bombay, and educated at Mill Hill, Pearson was a fast and determined wing who scored 40 tries for Cardiff in the 1892-93 season. It was from the Arms Park club that he won the first nine of his 13 caps before switching to Newport.
He scored 129 tries in 180 games for Cardiff and a further 68 in 109 appearances for Newport. He marked his Wales debut with a try in a 7-3 defeat to England at Rodney Parade in 1891 while still a teenager – 18 years and 238 days.
His record as the youngest debutant to score a try for Wales lasted until George North made his debut against South Africa in 2010. North was two weeks younger.
Pearson captained Wales in his 13th and final international, against England in 1903 at the age of 30, when an injury cut short his game and his international career. That game was played on 10 January and less than a month later he was captaining Wales once again, although this time in hockey.
He won 20 caps to add to his 13 for rugby on the hockey field and actually led Wales against Scotland on the same day, 7 February, 1903, as the rugby side met the Scots without him at Inverleith. He scored twice in a 5-1 win at Newport.
His Wales hockey debut came in 1899 against England and he led his country against the same nation in 1904 and 1905. He also played for Wales between 1903-07 at tennis, frequently playing alongside his former Newport rugby and hockey team mate, Dauncey.
He won the Welsh doubles title and followed Dauncey as honorary secretary of the tennis section at Newport Athletic Club (1897-1901). He was also a good golfer and was captain at Newport Golf Club.
A Docks Engineer by trade, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel during WWI while serving with the 4th Welsh Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery.
