Jack Rhapps

{{Short description|Former Wales rugby union, and rugby league footballer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}} {{Use British English|date=October 2016}} {{Infobox rugby league biography | name = John Rhapps | birth_name = Jack Rhapps | birth_date = {{birth date|1876|7|15|df=y}} | birth_place = Aberaman, Wales | death_date = {{Death date and age|1950|1|23|1876|7|15|df=yes}} | death_place = Stretford, England | height = {{convert|1.81|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | weight = {{convert|87|kg|stlb|abbr=on}} | first = RU | ru_position = Forward | ru_club1 = Penygraig RFC | ru_year1start = 189? | ru_year1end = 97 | ru_teamA = Wales | ru_yearAstart = 1897 | ru_appearancesA = 1 | ru_pointsA = 0 | position = Forward | club1 = Salford | year1start = 1897 | year1end = 1910 | appearances1 = 286 | tries1 = 3 | goals1 = 1 | fieldgoals1 = 0 | points1 = 11 | teamA = Other Nationalities | yearAstart = 1904 | appearancesA = 1 | pointsA = 0 }}

'''John "Jack" Rhapps''' (15 July 1876 – 23 January 1950)<ref>[http://www.wru.co.uk/eng/matchcentre/squads_wales_player_archive.php?player=31835&includeref=dynamic Jack Rapps player profile] WRU website</ref><ref>[http://www.espnscrum.com/wales/rugby/player/1253.html Jack Rhapps player profile] Scrum.com</ref> was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Penygraig, and international rugby for Wales. Rhapps later "Went North", when he turned professional, joining rugby league team Salford, and along with Anthony Starks they became the World's first dual-code rugby internationals.

Rhapps was born in the Penylan pub in Aberaman,<ref name="Smith108">Smith (1980), pg 108</ref> near Aberdare, but came to the Rhondda Valley to find work. A collier by profession,<ref>[http://www.wru.co.uk/15886.php Wales team visit Big Pit] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100803012035/http://www.wru.co.uk/15886.php|date=3 August 2010 }} WRU site</ref> Rhapps was one of the first 'Rhondda forwards', an aggressive style of forward player who was expected to play a more physical style of game.<ref name="Parry-Jones36">Parry-Jones (1999), pg 36.</ref>

==Rugby career== Rhapps played just a single game for Wales, when he was selected to face England as part of the 1897 Home Nations Championship. Rhapps joined a fairly inexperienced pack, which contained two other Rhondda players, Penygraig teammate Dai Evans and Llwynypia's Dick Hellings. The game ended in the largest win for Wales over the English to that date, but Wales failed to complete the competition after withdrawing from the International Rugby Board after the events of the Gould Affair. Although Wales were readmitted in 1898, Rhapps had ended his international rugby union career by switching to the rugby league code in 1897 when he joined Salford.<ref>Bale, John; Maguire, Joseph ''The Global Sports Arena: Athletic Talent Migration in an Interdependent World'', Routledge (1994) pg 30 {{ISBN|978-0-7146-4116-4}}</ref> Rhapps was successful during his time as a professional, playing as a Forward in Salford's 8–16 defeat by Swinton in the 1900 Challenge Cup Final during the 1899–1900 season at Fallowfield Stadium, Manchester, in front of a crowd of 17,864, and he won a cap playing as a forward for Other Nationalities (RL) while at Salford in the 9–3 victory over England at Central Park, Wigan on Tuesday 5 April 1904, in the first ever international rugby league match.<ref name="The First International Rugby League Match">{{cite web|first=Sean|last=Fagan|url=http://www.rl1895.com/1904.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20040401171622/http://www.rl1895.com/1904.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=1 April 2004|title=The First International Rugby League Match|publisher=rl1895.com|accessdate=14 December 2014}}</ref> and gained the nickname "The Lion of Salford".<ref name="Smith108"/>

===International matches played=== '''Wales'''<ref name="Smith471">Smith (1980), pg 471.</ref> * {{ru|ENG}} 1897

'''Other Nationalities''' * {{rl|ENG}} 1904

==Bibliography== * {{cite book|last=Godwin|first=Terry|title=The International Rugby Championship 1883-1983|year=1984|publisher=Willows Books|location=London|isbn=0-00-218060-X}} * {{cite book|last=Griffiths|first=John|title=The Phoenix Book of International Rugby Records|year=1987|publisher=Phoenix House|location=London|isbn=0-460-07003-7}} * {{cite book|last=Parry-Jones|first=David|title=Prince Gwyn, Gwyn Nicholls and the First Golden Era of Welsh Rugby|year=1999|publisher=seren|location=Bridgend|isbn=1-85411-262-7}} * {{cite book|last=Smith|first=David|author2=Williams, Gareth |title=Fields of Praise: The Official History of The Welsh Rugby Union|year=1980|publisher=University of Wales Press|location=Cardiff|isbn=0-7083-0766-3 }}

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhapps, Jack}} Category:1876 births Category:1950 deaths Category:19th-century Welsh sportsmen Category:20th-century Welsh sportsmen Category:Dual-code rugby internationals Category:Other Nationalities rugby league team players Category:Penygraig RFC players Category:Rugby league forwards Category:Rugby league players from Rhondda Cynon Taf Category:Rugby union forwards Category:Rugby union players from Rhondda Cynon Taf Category:Salford RLFC players Category:Wales international rugby union players Category:Welsh miners Category:Welsh rugby league players Category:Welsh rugby union players