October 29 down the years
Birth of an uncapped Lion
Brynmor Williams was born on this day in 1951
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1951
Brynmor Williams was born in Cardigan. A talented scrum-half, Williams had the misfortune to be playing at the same time as first Gareth Edwards and then Terry Holmes, restricting him to three Wales caps. He won as many for the British & Irish Lions, touring New Zealand as an uncapped player in 1977. There he partnered skipper Phil Bennett, including in the victorious Test at Lancaster Park in Christchurch. He slipped back behind Edwards in the pecking order for the 1978 Five Nations, when Wales won a Grand Slam, before finally making his international debut against Australia in Brisbane that July. His only international try came on debut as Wales lost 18-8 and he would have to wait three years for his next international cap, against England in Cardiff.
2003
Argentina's Roberto Grau was handed a Rugby World Cup-record nine-week ban after "raking his hand over the face" of Ireland skipper Keith Wood during their showdown at the Adelaide Oval. In effect, the ruling was all but meaningless as the Argentinean domestic season did not start until after the ban had been served. Fellow prop
Mauricio Reggiardo was also banned, for six matches, for an attack on Reggie Corrigan, which forced the Irish prop out of the game. It was "reckless rather than deliberate but carried a significant and unacceptable risk of injury", according to the hearing verdict.
1927
The touring Waratahs got back to winning ways with a commanding 20-8 victory over Leicestershire. The men from New South Wales had lost their unbeaten record at Oxford University the week before.
1950
A long overdue x-ray revealed that England lock Geoff Hosking had been playing Test rugby with a broken back. After the fracture was discovered, Hosking was finally booked in for surgery.
1960
South Africa defeated Cardiff 13-0 in a bad-tempered clash in the Welsh capital. The tourists had put great stock in their forward pack and were brutal unit skippered by Avril Malan. They went on to record a Grand Slam in Test matches against the four home unions but lost out to the Barbarians in a 6-0 turnaround in Cardiff - where the Baa Baas went toe to toe with their pack and prevailed.
1968
Jannie Engelbrecht helped himself to four tries as touring South Africa recorded a comfortable 24-3 win over a French Selection at Toulon.
1988
The struggling Wallabies received a timely boost in beating the Midland Division 25-18 at Leicester. The tourists had lost their three previous divisional matches in England.
1996
Mike Catt completed a 'full house' in racking up 22 points in Bath's awesome 76-7 annihilation of bitter rivals Bristol at the Rec.
© Scrum.com
1. Max Verstappen ()
