Will Joseph
Encyclopedia
Will Joseph 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...

 player. He was a member of the winning Welsh team who beat the 1905 touring All Blacks
All Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....

. He 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 county rugby for Glamorgan.

Joseph was seen as the outstanding forward of the early 20th century Swansea team, during an excellent period in the 'All Whites' history. He was recognised as a strong player in tight scrums and due to his height, excellent in line outs.

Wales

Joseph made his debut 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...

 against England at Blackheath in 1902 at the age of 23. Joseph played in three Triple Crown
Triple Crown (Rugby Union)
In rugby union, the Triple Crown is an honour contested annually by the four national teams of the British Isles who compete within the larger Six Nations Championship: England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. If any one team manages to win all their games against the other three they win the...

 winning campaigns, but his greatest moment on the field was when he played against the touring 1905 All Blacks. Joseph's international career fell apart in 1906 after a match against the touring Springboks. Although having played with great merit in an earlier match against South Africa with county side Glamorgan; in which he scored a try, Joseph was dropped after the international game. The Welsh pack in that game was dreadful and the selection committee decided to change the entire Welsh pack, regardless of individual play. Joseph's Wales career ended after 16 caps at the age of 28.

International games played

  • England
    England national rugby union team
    The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...

     1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906
  • Ireland
    Ireland national rugby union team
    The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...

     1902, 1903, 1905, 1906
  • New Zealand 1905
  • Scotland
    Scotland national rugby union team
    The Scotland national rugby union team represent Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The Scotland rugby union team is currently ranked eighth in the IRB World Rankings as of 19 September 2011...

     1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906
  • South Africa
    South Africa national rugby union team
    The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...

     1906
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK