Born in Neath, he learned his rugby at Neath Grammar School alongside his lifelong friend, the former WRU President Dennis Gethin. He initially went to study at University College, Aberystwyth, after leaving school and then went to Cambridge to pursue a medical career.
He became a permanent fixture for the Light Blues after his arrival at Christ’s College and won four Blues from 1963-1966. He captained the side in his final season, a post in which he was succeeded by his younger brother, Geoff, seven years later.
In his first tern at Cambridge he found himself lining up with Gethin against the 1963 All Blacks at Grange Road. The tourists won that game 20-6 and he led the students against the 1966 Wallabies, when his side went down 6-5 in a tense, tight tussle.
He admitted in later life that his biggest wish going to Cambridge was to win a Blue and he left having won one Varsity Match, drawn another and lost two to Oxford at Twickenham. He also went on the 1965 Combined Oxford & Cambridge tour to Argentina and Brazil, where he featured in the side that drew with and then beat the Pumas.
He would later return to Argentina on the uncapped Wales tour in 1968, where he played in the first Test defeat. He was invited to fly out to New Zealand a year later to replace the injured Jeff Young after the first Test defeat to the All Blacks.
He was forced to turn down the offer, Newport’s Vic Perrins going in his place, due to his medical exams. By that stage he had graduated from Cambridge and was completed his studies at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.
He won his three Welsh caps in the 1967 Five Nations Championship after coming through the trial process for the first time that season. His debut came at Murrayfeld as Wales opened the defence of their title against the Scots when he was one of five new caps.
Four of them were in a new look Welsh pack – John O’Shea and Rees in the front row, Billy Mainwairing in the second row and John Taylor in the back row. Billy Hullin won his one and only cap at scrum half and one of his former Cambridge team mates, Billy Raybould, launched his international career in the centre.
Scotland won 11-5 and then the Irish came to Cardiff and left with a 3-0 win after a smash and grab raid in which wing Alan Duggan scored the only points. The selectors stuck to the same pack for those two matches, but made three changes behind the scrum.
Next stop was Paris, where Gareth Edwards, Dai Morris and Ron Jones won their first caps, and Rees’ brief international career ended with a 20-14 defeat. In the previously postponed game against England a few weeks later, Wales rallied to win 32-23 in what became known as the ‘Jarrett match’ to avoid the Wooden Spoon and stop England winning the Triple Crown.
Taylor joined London Welsh at the same stage of the 1966-67 season as Rees and played alongside him at Old Deer Park as the seeds of the glory days of the club were first being sown. They then both won their first caps together in Scotland.
“Brian was very proud of his Neath heritage and there was certainly a touch of the Neath about him on the field. Neath were revered, hated and admired in equal measure for the hard edge they brought to their rugby and Brian was ferocious on the field,” said Taylor.
“On the field he could be a menace, yet off it he was charming, witty and loads of fun. Never afraid to get stuck in, he once pleaded his innocence when faced with a biting charge by claiming he had lost all his front teeth and therefore couldn’t inflict any damage.
“When he joined London Welsh he was completing his studies to become a doctor in London. He picked a hospital in Luton to do his first internship and that left us all flummoxed.
“When we asked him why he wanted to go so far out, and pointed out it would make life very difficult for him to get to training at Old Deer Park, he revealed his reasoning. He wanted to be a surgeon, the M1 had not long opened, which was close to Luton and he reckoned there would be lots of crashes that would provide him with plenty of chances to get into theatre.
“He went on to become an eminent surgeon, rising to the top of his profession. He was a great man to have around, both on and off the pitch.”
At Cambridge he won the College Cup final in 1964 and followed that up with victories in the 1969 and 1970 Hospital’s Cup finals with St Bart’s. He also played county rugby for Middlesex.
He eventually returned to Wales to work and became a general surgeon at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. He was the lead cancer clinician from 2000-06 and established a unit for the teaching of skills in surgery and laparoscopic techniques which is used by many disciplines within the medical world.
The unit, called the Welsh Institute of Minimal Access Therapy, is recognised as having a place among the best training units in the country. In 2000, he was awarded an OBE for services to medicine.
In 2008 he became High Sheriff of South Glamorgan and he also sat as a Trustee on the board of the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust, acting as its chair in recent years.
The Welsh Rugby Union would like to offer sincere condolences to his wife, Sara, and other family members and friends.
Brian Idris Rees (cap No 709): B: 28 August, 1942 in Neath; D: 29 December, 2021 in Cardiff. 3 Welsh caps 1967
