St Helen’s ArchivePreserving the past for the future

JY130

Jersey

CIC

Ian Milne

1974-1975

Jersey, Wales, red with P.O.W. feathers on breast. No: 16 on back.

This Welsh international jersey belonged to long time Swansea player, committee and Board member Roger Blyth. A prolific points scorer at full-back for Swansea, Roger was capped six times for Wales between 1974 and 1980. His first cap was at Twickenham against England on 16th March 1974, at full-back replacing J.P.R. Williams who was out following an Achilles tendon operation. This No16 jersey is known to come from Roger's second cap, which was as a substitute at Murrayfield against Scotland on 1st March 1975. Blyth was brought off the bench to replace Steve Fenwick at outside centre when the latter was injured. Roger's other four Welsh appearances were all made at full-back. Scotland won the 1975 match at Murrayfield by 12-10 and the match was noteworthy for the huge crowd that attended, estimated as a then world record of 104,000. Phil Bennet also came off the bench in this match when outside-half John Bevan dislocated his shoulder. Roger Blyth's remaining four Welsh caps were won in the 1980 Five Nations campaign (v France, Scotland, England & Ireland). Roger kicked a penalty against Scotland (won 17-6) and scored a try in his last appearance for Wales v Ireland (L 21-7). This jersey was presented by Roger to the Swansea Schools Rugby Union (SSRU), with whom he had connections going back to his youth. It was then donated to the St Helen's Archive collection in 2021 by Ian Milne of the SSRU.

1974-1975, 1974-75, wales, roger blyth, wales v scotland, ssru,