Welsh rugby history with Dr Huw Richards in the twelfth Sport in History Podcast brought to you by the British Society of Sport History in association with the Institute of Historical Research. Huw tells us about ‘The Bounce of the Century’ which led to Wales’ most recent victory over New Zealand in 1953 in a very tight encounter. We also chat about the hotly disputed try that saw the only defeat of the original touring All Blacks in 1905, as well as looking forward to Welsh prospects in this summer’s men’s Rugby World Cup.

We had a slightly noisy background so please forgive that (especially the helicopter). And many thanks to the bar staff at the WB Yeats in Finsbury Park who swiftly deployed the awning to save my recording equipment from a downpour! If you want to see a report on the 1953 game you can check it out on YouTube.

Huw Richards is an Associate Lecturer at the  London College of Communication. As well as being a respected historian of sport he is a freelance writer and journalist who has worked for – among others – the BBC, the Financial Times, and the International Herald Tribune. He’s written a number of authoritative works on the history of rugby including A Game for Hooligans: The History of Rugby, Dragons and All Blacks and The Red and the White, an account of the rivalry between Wales and England through over a century of rugby. 

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