Full name | Cross Keys Rugby Football Club | |
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Nickname(s) | The Keys | |
Founded | 1885 [1] | |
Location | Crosskeys, Wales | |
Ground(s) | Pandy Park (Capacity: 3,000) | |
President | Terry Howell | |
Coach(es) | Morgan Stoddart Greg Woods Gewsyn Price-Jones | |
Captain(s) | Tom Lampard | |
League(s) | Welsh Championship | |
2018-current | 5th Welsh Championship | |
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Official website | ||
www |
Cross Keys RFC (Welsh : Clwb Rygbi Pont-y-Cymer) is a rugby union club located in the Welsh village of Crosskeys. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union, and is a feeder club for the Dragons regional team. [2]
The club achieved first class-status in 1909, winning the Monmouthshire league three times.[ citation needed ]
By 1920 the team had their first international player, when Steve Morris won a cap for Wales. Morris would win 19 caps and captained Wales in 1925. [3] Caps followed during the 1920s for Ossie Male and Lonza Bowdler, both returned over several seasons for Wales, facing not only Five Nations Championships but also touring teams.
In 1926 Cross Keys RFC found themselves in dire financial trouble, and requested help from the Welsh Rugby Union. The WRU refused an appeal for a cash loan, but instead agreed to send the Welsh national team to play in an exhibition match at Pandy Park. The sell-out crowd assured Cross Keys future and resulted in an historic win for the home team thirteen points to eight. [4]
Rugby observers have noted the high level of talent in the Cross Keys pack, and criticised the fact they went under represented in the national team during the 1920s [5] and 1930s. [6]
Cross Keys reached the final of the 2011–12 British and Irish Cup, losing to Munster A. [7] Cross Keys won their first Swalec Cup, defeating table topping Pontypridd at the Millennium Stadium in 2012. [8]
Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.
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The following list is made up of ex-Cross Keys players who have all won international caps as either a rugby union or rugby league player.
Year | Date | Opponent | Result | Score | Tour |
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1985 | 9 October | Fiji | Loss | 12-26 | 1985 Fiji rugby union tour of Wales and Ireland [17] |
2022 | 2 November | Poland | Loss | 37-12 | 2022 REC Preparations |
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Steve Morris was a Welsh international rugby union flanker who played club rugby for Cross Keys. A hard man, Morris was extremely physical in the way he played the game, sometimes over physical and he was unafraid to turn to violence if it was warranted. It is reported that he once knocked out a Welsh heavyweight boxing champion in a sparring session. At 6 foot and over 14 stone in weight, Morris was a hulking player, but he was still recognised as a cheerful and genial person.
Thomas Parker was a Welsh international rugby union flanker who played club rugby for Swansea. Parker made his debut for Swansea in 1913 and captained his club in the 1920/21 season Parker would play 15 times for Wales, seven of them as captain. He was surprisingly one of the most successful captains in the history of Welsh rugby with 6 wins and 1 draw, all played during the 1920s, a decade that is seen as the worst period in Welsh rugby.
Frank "Lonza" Bowdler was a Welsh rugby union hooker who played club rugby for Cross Keys and was capped 15 times for Wales. A coal miner by profession, Watcyn Thomas remembered him in his autobiography, as a dedicated player, turning out for Wales on Saturday before returning immediately to his shift underground at his mine.
Iorwerth Isaac commonly known as Iorrie Isaac, was a Welsh dual-code international rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s. He played representative rugby union (RU) for Wales, and at club level for Pontypridd and Cardiff, as a flanker, i.e. number 6 or 7, and representative rugby league (RL) for Wales, and at club level for Leeds, as a prop, or second-row, i.e. number 8 or 10, or, 11 or 12, during the era of contested scrums.
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