Jack Whitfield 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...

 hooker who played club rugby for Newport and club rugby for Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire County RFC

Monmouthshire County RFC is a Welsh rugby union club that manages an invitational team, known as Monmouthshire that originally played rugby at county level...

. He was an extremely powerful scrummager, but was not seen as skillful as the pre-war players produced by Wales.

Rugby career

As a fitter in the Newport Docks

Newport Docks

Newport Docks is the collective name for a series of docks in the city of Newport, South Wales.-Background:Newport was a small fishing port and market town until the coming of the industrial age at the beginning of the 19th century...

, local dock team Pill Harriers

Pill Harriers RFC

Pill Harriers RFC are a Welsh rugby union club based in Newport in South Wales. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Newport Gwent Dragons..-Club origins:...

 was a natural choice to take on the front row skills of Whitfield. The Harriers, although seen as a lower league team, provided many Welsh players, especially front row hardmen like Whitfield. In 1919 he was selected for the 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...

 to face the touring New Zealand Services team. Over the next five years, now as a member of the Newport club, Whitfield was capped for Wales on 12 occasions and scored his first try on the 13 March 1920 against Ireland. In the 1922 Five Nations Championship

1922 Five Nations Championship

The 1922 Five Nations Championship was the eighth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the thirty-fifth series of the annual northern hemisphere rugby...

, Whitfield was the leading try

Try

A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...

 scorer of the tournament with four tries one against England and France, and two against Ireland. In the 1924 Championship

1924 Five Nations Championship

The 1924 Five Nations Championship was the tenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the thirty-seventh series of the annual northern hemisphere rugby...

, in a game against Scotland, Whitfield was given the captaincy for Wales. Wales lost the match heavily, with Scotland running in eight tries, it was Whitfield's only time as captain.

He died on Boxing Day 1927 at the Royal Gwent Hospital

Royal Gwent Hospital

The Royal Gwent Hospital is the principal hospital in the city of Newport and the ancient county of Monmouthshire. It is located on Cardiff Road near the city centre...

 after a gastric ulcer operation.

International matches played
Wales England

England national rugby union team

The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...

 1920, 1921, 1922 France

France national rugby union team

The France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales in the Six Nations Championship. They have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams...

 1920, 1922 Ireland

Ireland national rugby union team

The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...

 1920, 1922, 1924 New Zealand Services 1919 Scotland

Scotland national rugby union team

The Scotland national rugby union team represent Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The Scotland rugby union team is currently ranked eighth in the IRB World Rankings as of 19 September 2011...

1920, 1922, 1924