Dai Lewis


David 'Dai' Henry Lewis was a Welsh rugby union forward who played club rugby for Canton RFC and Cardiff and international rugby for Wales.

Rugby career

Lewis was first capped for Wales whilst playing for Cardiff. He was selected for Charlie Newman's Wales team to face England in the opening match of the 1886 Home Nations Championship. Lewis was one of four new caps brought into the Welsh pack, alongside fellow Cardiff team-mate George Young, Llanelli's Evan Roberts and Swansea's William Bowen. Wales lost the match narrowly, but the selectors kept faith with Lewis for the next game against Scotland. The Scotland game, played at the Cardiff Arms Park, is noted for being the first international game to see a team use the four threequarter system. With Newman unavailable, the captaincy was passed to Frank Hancock, the Cardiff centre known for introducing the new back formation at club level. With six Cardiff players in the team, including Lewis, it was seen as a good time to experiment the system at international level. The experiment was seen as a failure and was abandoned with disastrous effect halfway through the match. Wales lost the match and Lewis was not selected for his country again.

International games played

Wales