The legendary loose head prop won the first of his 19 full caps at the age of 33. He helped Wales to win two Grand Slams and three Triple Crowns, and went to New Zealand in 1977 to join up with the British & Irish Lions as a replacement.
Always known by his friends and teammates as ‘Charlie’, to do with a horse he rode as a youngster, he was a judo black belt before becoming an international prop of world renown.
He first packed down in an international fixture for the Wales XV against New Zealand in 1974 in what was a non-capped midweek fixture at Cardiff Arms Park. He had his Pontypool teammate Bobby Windsor alongside him in the front row in a game Wales lost 12-3.
His first cap came in the away game against France at Parc des Princes at the start of the 1975 Five Nations campaign. Graham Price also made his debut in that game, as one of six newcomers to the Welsh side, and that was the first of 19 times the Pontypool Front Row packed down together for their country.
In that time, they only lost four times, thus giving Max Boyce the inspiration he needed to create a song about the most feared trio in northern hemisphere rugby.
Having learned his trade with Windsor playing for the Whiteheads steel works team at Bassaleg in the late Sixties, Faulkner switched to Newport Saracens before breaking into the first-class scene at Cross Keys. He linked up again with Windsor at Pontypool in the early Seventies and went from strength to strength under the expert tutelage of the legendary Ray Prosser.
In a recent interview with Walesonline, Faulkner put his success down to the way Prosser shaped hm.
“He had a vast influence on me. Pross used to always say to me, ‘Fitness breeds confidence, confidence breeds skill and skill breeds success. So, you’ve got to get yourself fit, fit, fit’,” said Faulkner
“I would put 90 per cent of the success I achieved down to him. I’m sure Bobby and Graham would say the same.
Tony Faulkner (2nd right) with Bobby Windsor, Graham Price, Terry Cobner and coach Ray Prosser
“He had no mercy. He trained and trained and trained you and hardened you up. If you didn’t run up the Grotto at Pontypool Park quick enough, he’d make you do it again – no messing.”
He scored his one try for Wales against Ireland in Cardiff in 1975 and went on to play throughout the 1976 and 1978 Grand Slam campaigns. He missed the 1977 Five Nations season through injury, but was fit enough to fly out to New Zealand that summer to join Windsor and Price in a Lions jersey for a couple of matches at the end of that tour.
WATCH CHARLIE’S TRY V IRELAND HERE
He played in three of the four games in the 1979 Championship, which saw Wales complete another Triple Crown. After hanging up his boots he went into coaching and spent time with Cardiff and Newport, as well as Caerphilly and St Peter’s.
The WRU sends sincere condolences to the family and friends of Tony ‘Charlie’ Faulkner.
Tony Faulkner (Cap No: 761 – 19 caps 1975-79) b 27.02.1941 in Newport; d. 09.02.2023
