FoNR TALK Newport History of Newport RFC
History of Newport RFC
  • Players
  • Seasons
  • Games
  • Features
  • Audio / Visual
  • Progress
  • Snelling Sevens
  • Endorsements
  • About us
  • More
Previous:
1890-91
The 1891-92 Season
Next:
1892-93

1891-92 saw the start of a 6 season period claimed by Dromio as the greatest period in the history of Newport Rugby Football. For those 6 seasons Newport's record was: P170 W143 D14 L13. The invincible season of 1891-92 was the culmination of years of team building and assembling of a very talented squad of players and also the gaining of experience by playing a wide variety of tough opponents from all over England. Interestingly the three top scorers could well have been elsewhere that season. Arthur Gould had played more for Richmond than Newport and the previous season had been in the West Indies, Percy Phillips had been in Switzerland for commercial education while Wallace Watts had at one time returned home to his native Chipping Norton.

The other key players were Tom Graham who had been made captain at a young age and Jim Hannan. Graham was an ideal captain who had a thorough knowledge of the game and also his players who greatly respected him. His lieutenant was Jim Hannan who at the time was the greatest scrummaging forward that Wales had ever had. T. England was a sound and all-round fullback and Charlie Thomas a great scoring and tackling centre. There were wings Bert Gould, Leonard Heard, a great runner who had jumped from Thirds to Firsts and Bert Dauncy, who found his feet later in the season. Later there was E. Coulman who had played with Arthur Gould at Richmond. At half back there was the brilliant attacking Percy Phillips and the plucky and reliable Fred Parfitt - they made the perfect combination. Parfitt like W. Watts, T. Pook, W. Groves and J. Osmond had all played together for the successful Maindee team. Harry Day, Hannan, Watts, Boucher, Graham and Pook were probably the outstanding forwards. Often the forwards did the work of the backs and vice versa which was one of the strengths of this invincible side. The brilliance of Arthur Gould, Percy Phillips and Charlie Thomas meant that the hard work of the forwards was best used.

The record was : P 33 W29 D4 - scoring 72g and 95t to just 3g and 5t with the line only being crossed 8 times. The drawn games were Cardiff, Swansea (2) and Old Merchant Taylors. T. England and W. Groves played all 33 matches while Tom Pook played 32, Percy Phillips 31 and Fred Parfitt 31. Arthur Gould led the scorers with 31 tries and 7 dg, Percy Phillips scored 17 tries and Wallace Watts and Bert Gould 14 tries each.

Reporting the season in its edition of 2nd May 1892 The Times recorded:-

"Although so many matches of a general character have been played, club football has held its own. Among those of the Rugby game Blackheath and the London Scottish may be said to have shared the honours of the London season. The former played 21, won 16, lost three, drew 2; and the latter played 18, won 13, lost three, and drew 2. To Newport, Mon., however, belongs the best record of the year; they did not lose a match, having won 27 out of the 31 played and drawn four [Ed. slightly different figures to those in the official record]. Of the other Rugby fifteens, Oxford University played 19 matches, won 13, lost five, and drew one; Cambridge University played 19, won 12, lost six, drew one; Bradford played 34, won 24, lost seven, drew three; and Gloucester played 31, won 21, lost six, drew four."



  • Results
  • Squad
1
Llanelli
0
- 11Newport
19 Sep
2
Newport
16
- 3Devonport Albion
26 Sep
3
Newport
26
- 0Wellington
03 Oct
4
Newport
6
- 0Swansea
10 Oct
5
Cardiff
0
- 0Newport
17 Oct
6
Newport
13
- 5St Helens Recreation
24 Oct
7
Newport
23
- 3Harlequins
31 Oct
8
Newport
36
- 0Civil Service
07 Nov
9
Newport
20
- 0Swinton
09 Nov
10
Swansea
0
- 0Newport
14 Nov
11
Newport
28
- 3Cardiff
21 Nov
12
Gloucester
0
- 2Newport
28 Nov
13
Newport
27
- 0West Hartlepool
05 Dec
14
Newport
11
- 0Moseley
12 Dec
15
Newport
12
- 3Salford
19 Dec
16
Newport
6
- 0Penarth
26 Dec
17
Newport
13
- 0London Welsh
02 Jan
18
Penarth
0
- 12Newport
09 Jan
19
Newport
44
- 0Exeter Chiefs
23 Jan
20
Cardiff
0
- 14Newport
30 Jan
21
Newport
11
- 0Llanelli
11 Feb
22
Newport
0
- 0Swansea
20 Feb
23
Moseley
5
- 29Newport
27 Feb
24
Coventry
0
- 21Newport
29 Feb
25
Newport
34
- 0Royal Naval Engineering College
05 Mar
26
Exeter Chiefs
0
- 39Newport
12 Mar
27
Newport
26
- 0Gloucester
19 Mar
28
Swansea
5
- 9Newport
26 Mar
29
Newport
29
- 0Cardiff
02 Apr
30
Newport
40
- 0Penarth
09 Apr
31
Newport
17
- 3Aberavon
16 Apr
32
Newport
40
- 0Salford
18 Apr

Key
Image is available
Report is available
© 2003-2017, Friends of Newport Rugby Trust