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John Williams later became known as ‘JPR’ when wing John J.Williams came into the Wales side. ‘JPR’ played on two Lions tours and in all four tests of both tours – 1971 to Australia/NZ (4 tests) and 1974 to South Africa (4 tests), being a winner in five with two draws, including scoring the drop goal that sealed the 1971 series victory over NZ. From Bridgend County School he gained U-15 caps, then from Millfield School in Somerset he gained Wales Secondary School caps. In 1968 he toured Argentina with Wales but caps were not awarded, and he made further Welsh tours to NZ/Australia/Fiji (1969); Canada (1973); Japan/Hong Kong (1975) and Australia (1978). He played for Bridgend, then his debut for Wales was from London Welsh and he also played for Crawshay’s Welsh, Middlesex and St Mary’s Hospital. He scored six tries for Wales, all champion efforts with five against England and one against Ireland. Also, he saved many tries with his tackling. He gained 37 caps with London Welsh before returning to Bridgend for 18 more caps, including captaining Wales 5 times (1978-1979). He played for England-Wales against Scotland-Ireland in 1970, 1972, 1975 and 1980, as well as playing for the Barbarians against the Lions at Twickenham in 1977. While captaining Bridgend against New Zealand in 1978 he suffered a bad cheek injury and in 1972 he had fractured his jaw against Scotland. His one start for Wales as a flanker rather than full back was in Australia in 1978. When he retired from international rugby in 1981, he was the most-capped Wales player. He was an orthopaedic surgeon who later climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 2006.
