John "Jack" Rhapps 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...

 forward who played club rugby for Penygraig

Penygraig RFC

Penygraig Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team based in Penygraig, Wales. Penygraig RFC formed in 1877, one of the earlier rugby clubs to emerge, and by 1890's were a strong voice in the Welsh Rugby Union, one of four clubs from the Rhondda Valley that held WRU representation.-Early...

 and international rugby 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...

. Rhapps later "Went North", when he turned professional, joining rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 team Salford

Salford City Reds

Salford City Reds are an English rugby league club based in Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1873, they currently play in the Super League. They have won six Rugby Football League Championships and one Challenge Cup...

, and along with Anthony Starks

Anthony Starks

Anthony Starks was an English dual-code international rugby union and professional rugby league footballer of the 1890s and 1900s who at representative level played rugby union for England, and Yorkshire, and at club level for , playing as a Forward, and at representative level played rugby...

 they became the World's first dual-code rugby internationals.

Rhapps was born in the Penylan pub in Aberaman

Aberaman

Aberaman is a village near Aberdare in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, south Wales.-Schools:*Blaengwawr Comprehensive School *Blaengwawr Primary *Oaklands Primary -Sport:...

, near Aberdare

Aberdare

Aberdare is an industrial town in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Dare and Cynon. The population at the census was 31,705...

, but came to the Rhondda Valley

Rhondda

Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining valley in Wales, formerly a local government district, consisting of 16 communities built around the River Rhondda. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...

 to find work. A collier by profession, 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.

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

1897 Home Nations Championship

The 1897 Home Nations Championship was the fifteenth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Four matches were played between 9 January and 13 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales...

. Rhapps joined a fairly inexperienced pack, which contained two other Rhondda players, Penygraig team mate Dai Evans

Dai Evans

David "Dai" Evans was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Penygraig and international rugby for Wales.Evans was born in Maenclochog, Pembrokeshire, but came to the Rhondda Valley to find work...

 and Llwynypia's

Llwynypia RFC

Llwynypia RFC was a rugby union club located in the Welsh village of Llwynypia in the Rhondda. The team provided several international players during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most notably Willie Llewellyn, who was not only selected to represent Wales while playing at the club, but...

 Dick Hellings

Dick Hellings

Richard 'Dick' Hellings was an English born rugby union forward who played international rugby for Wales and club rugby for Llwynypia. Hellings was noted for his strength built from years cutting coal as a Rhondda miner...

. 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

International Rugby Board

The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...

 after the events of the 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. Rhapps was extremely successful during his time as a professional, playing for the Other Nationalities team

Other Nationalities rugby league team

The Other Nationalities rugby league team regularly played international, and also county, rugby league football teams in Europe from 1904 to 1975. The team, created in 1904 to play England in the first ever rugby league international match, was at first made up of Welsh and Scottish players...

in 1904 against England, and gained the nickname "The Lion of Salford".