Thomas 'Tom' Deacon 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...

 international 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...

 forward who played club rugby for 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...

 and international rugby 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...

Rugby career

Swansea born Deacon began his career with Morriston

Morriston RFC

Morriston Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from the village of Morriston, Swansea in West Wales. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Ospreys....

 before switching to Swansea in 1890. The next season he was selected to reresent the Wales national team against Ireland in the 1891 Home Nations Championship

1891 Home Nations Championship

The 1891 Home Nations Championship was the ninth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 3 January and 7 March...

. Deacon was one of four new Welsh players brought into the pack for the match, including Swansea team-mates David

David Samuel (rugby player)

David Samuel was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Swansea and international rugby for Wales. He is most notable as being a member of the very first Welsh Triple Crown winning team, in 1893....

 and John Samuel

John Samuel

John Samuel was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Swansea and international rugby for Wales. He played just one game for Wales, notable for being selected alongside his brother David Samuel...

, following losses in the first two matches of the tournament against England and Scotland. Played at Stradey Park

Stradey Park

Stradey Park was a rugby union stadium located near the centre of the town of Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It was the home of the Scarlets region and Llanelli RFC rugby teams. The stadium was a combination of seating and standing with a total capacity of 10,800...

 and led by Llanelli's

Llanelli RFC

Llanelli Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club founded in 1875 and its senior team is one of the leading club sides in Wales. The club began the 2008-09 season at their historic home ground of Stradey Park in Llanelli, but moved in November 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent...

 Willie Thomas

Willie Thomas

William 'Willie' Henry Thomas was a Welsh international rugby union player who played club rugby for Llanelli and London Welsh. He was capped eleven times for Wales and captained the team on two occasions. In 1888, Thomas was chosen to tour New Zealand and Australia as part of the first British...

, Wales beat the Irish 6-4, but this match was Deacon's only international win of his career.

Deacon was reslected to play in all three matches of the 1892 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....

, now under the captaincy of Newport legend Arthur 'Monkey' Gould. Although the pack now contained the likes of Wallace Watts

Wallace Watts

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 and Arthur Boucher

Arthur Boucher

Arthur Boucher was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Newport. Boucher was an adaptable player, who although selected mainly as a forward, often played at centre. He was strong, quick for his position and passed well on the run...

the team failed to win a single match of the competition, though the selectors kept faith with the majority of the pack throughout. The next season the 1892 pack was reselected almost en masse, Deacon being the only obvious omission, his Wales career was over.