St Helen’s ArchivePreserving the past for the future

OT126

Watch

Loan

Geoff Wheel

1975-1976

Watch, silver, engraved, white dial with Roman numerals. Wales tour to Japan 1975.

This commemorative pocket watch was presented to Geoff Wheel by the Japanese Royal Family at a special reception in Tokyo in September 1975 when the first ever Welsh team to tour Japan arrived there. Each member of the Welsh squad was presented with an identical watch to this one. The tour included a match against a Honk Kong XV en route (won 57-3). In Japan a Combined Waseda Uni/Kinki Nihn Railway XV (32-3) and Japan 'B' side (34-7) were beaten before 2 Test matches against Japan. Those resulted in 56-12 and 82-6 wins for Wales, played in Osaka and Tokyo respectively. The Welsh squad comprised fellow Swansea players Roger Blyth, Barry Clegg, Trefor Evans and Mervyn Davies who captained the Welsh team on the tour. The tour followed on from Japan's popular visit to Wales in 1973.

Watch, Geoff, Wheel, Japan, Tour, 1975-1976