George Albert Rowles was a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 international halfback who played club rugby for Penarth

Penarth RFC

Penarth Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club based since 1924 at The Athletic Field, Lavernock Road, in Penarth, in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales.-Origins and early history:...

. He won a single cap for Wales

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

 during the 1892 Home Nations Championship

1892 Home Nations Championship

The 1892 Home Nations Championship was the tenth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 2 January and 5 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales....

. He was the second player to represent Wales while playing club rugby for Penarth, after Dickie Garrett

Dickie Garrett

Richard 'Dickie' Garrett was a Welsh international rugby union player who played club rugby for Penarth and international rugby for Wales. Garrett was a collier by trade and in 1908 was killed when he was crushed by a coal truck....

.

Rugby career

Rowles had played for Penarth for several years before his international selection in 1892, he was senior team captain during the 1885/86 season, and is recorded as being a member of the Penarth team that won the Cardiff District Cup in 1888. Rowles won his only Welsh cap when he was chosen to partner Newport's Percy Phillips

Percy Phillips (rugby player)

Henry Percy Phillips OBE was a Welsh rugby union international fly-half who played club rugby for Newport. He won six caps for Wales and played in all three games of the 1893 Home Nations Championship which saw Wales lift the Triple Crown for the first time in the country's history.Outside rugby,...

 in the opening game of the 1892 Home Nations Championship against England. The preferred halfback partnership for Wales were the Swansea

Swansea RFC

Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. Its home ground is St Helens Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea. The team is sometimes known as The Whites because of the primary colour of the team strip...

 pairing of Evan

Evan James (rugby player)

Evan James was a Welsh rugby half back who played club rugby for Swansea under the rugby union code, and professional rugby league for Broughton Rangers. While playing with Swansea, James was paired with his brother, David James and together they were nicknamed the 'Swansea gems' and the 'Curly...

 and David James

David James (rugby player)

David James was a Welsh international rugby union half back who played club rugby for Swansea. While playing with Swansea, James was paired with his brother, Evan James and together they were nicknamed the 'Swansea gems' and the 'Curly haired marmasets'.- Rugby career :James was first capped for...

, but with the James brothers unavailable, Rowles was given his opportunity. Under the captaincy of Arthur 'Monkey' Gould, Wales were outclassed by England who won by three goals and a try to nil. The next match the James brother were brought back in and Rowles and Phillips lost their places; though Phillips would represent his country on a further five occasions, Rowles never played for Wales again.