Welsh rugby was at a low ebb when Clive Rowlands, a gritty 24-year-old scrum half, was awarded not just his first international cap but also, more surprisingly, the team captaincy for the first match of the 1963 Five Nations season against England at Cardiff Arms Park.
On a January day so cold that the players remained in the changing rooms for the national anthems, Wales went down to a 13-6 defeat. For Rowlands, who has died aged 85, it was a deceptively disappointing overture to a long and illustrious career that would see him become the only Welshman to play for, coach and manage the national team.
