Watkins learned his rugby at Crumlin RFC and then moved to Cardiff, where he was a rival for the hooker berth with Alan Phillips (now manager of the British and Irish Lions following a lengthy spell as Wales team manager). Two years after joining the Arms Park club he won a place in his first Welsh trial in 1977. He was a Welsh replacement against Ireland in Cardiff in 1977 and in France in the next match. Phillips then took over for the rest of the Five Nations Championship. When Wales won the Grand Slam in 1978, Watkins was on the bench backing up Bobby Windsor for all four games. He also then toured Australia that summer, without getting a Test appearance.
He played 118 times for Cardiff between 1975-81 and then 229 times between 1981-87 for Newport, captaining the side in the last four seasons.
He took over as Wales captain from Eddie Butler after Wales had lost three games in a row – 16-9 to France in Paris at the end of the 1983 Five Nations, 24-6 in Romania later that year and then 15-9 to Scotland in the opening game of the 1984 Five Nations campaign,
He replaced Billy James as hooker and made an immediate impact by leading his side to a stirring 18-9 win over the Irish in Lansdowne Road. That was followed by a 21-16 defeat to France at home – the first time since 1963 Wales had lost both home games in the Championship – before a 24-15 victory over England at Twickenham.
His fourth and final game in charge was the clash with the touring Australians on 24 November, 1984. It was the one and only appearance for Pontypool scrum half David Bishop in a Welsh shirt and a day when the Wallabies inflicted a record home defeat on Wales, 28-9.
Terry Homes took over the captaincy for the 1985 Five Nations and Billy James returned as hooker as Watkins, Butler and Gareth Davies all announced their international retirements that season. The previous season Graham Price, David Richards and Jeff Squire had done the same.
Last year, journalist Simon Thomas tracked down Watkins for an entertaining, asterisk-laden interview, which you can read here.
CAPTAINED WALES ON DEBUT
1881: James Bevan (Wales v England)
1882: Charles Lewis (Ireland v Wales)
1934: John Evans (Wales v England)
1963: Clive Rowlands (Wales v England)
1984: Mike Watkins (Ireland v Wales)
