Frank "Lonza" Bowdler 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...

 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 Cross Keys

Cross Keys RFC

Cross Keys RFC is a rugby union club located in the Welsh village of Crosskeys. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Newport Gwent Dragons.- History :...

 and was capped 15 times 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...

. A coal miner by profession, Watcyn Thomas

Watcyn Thomas

Watcyn Thomas was a Welsh rugby union player who captained Wales in the early 1930s.Thomas was born in Llanelli and educated at Llanelli County School and at University College, Swansea. While still at school he was the first captain of the newly formed Welsh Secondary Schools XV in 1924. He then...

 remembered him in his autobiography, as a dedicated player, turning out for Wales on Saturday before returning immediately to his shift underground at his mine.

International rugby career

Although Cross Keys was seen as an unfashionable club at the time, it had already produced two respected internationals in Steve Morris

Steve Morris (rugby union player)

Steve Morris was a Welsh international rugby union flanker who played club rugby for Cross Keys. A hard man, Morris was extremely physical in the way he played the game, sometimes over physical and he was unafraid to turn to violence if it was warranted. It is reported that he once knocked out a...

 and Ossie Male

Ossie Male

Ossie Male was a Welsh international full back who played club rugby for Cardiff and was capped 11 times for Wales and captained his country on three occasions. In 1924, Male was at the centre of an embarrassing decision made by the Welsh Rugby Union that prevented him facing the French rugby team...

; therefore although unusual, it was not a surprise when Bowdler was selected for the Welsh rugby team. In 1927 Bowdler was selected to face the touring Australian Waratahs and the next year made his debut in the Five Nations Championship

Six Nations Championship

The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....

 in a game against England, which was also the last game for Wales captain Rowe Harding

Rowe Harding

W. Rowe Harding was a Welsh international rugby union wing who played club rugby for Swansea. An intelligent player, Harding played for several teams at club and international level. In 1926 he attended Cambridge University and played for Cambridge in a varsity match...

. Bowdler played out the entirety of the 1928 Five Nations Championship

1928 Five Nations Championship

The 1928 Five Nations Championship was the fourteenth 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 forty-first series of the annual northern hemisphere rugby...

 and the 1929 season

1928 Five Nations Championship

The 1928 Five Nations Championship was the fourteenth 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 forty-first series of the annual northern hemisphere rugby...

. An unsuccessful period in Welsh rugby, Bowdler played through into the early 1930s when the team's fortunes began changing. He missed the 1931 Five Nations Championship

1931 Five Nations Championship

The 1931 Five Nations Championship was the seventeenth 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 forty-fourth series of the annual northern hemisphere...

, when Wales actually won the tournament, but was selected to play against the 1931 touring South Africans

1931-32 South Africa rugby union tour

The 1931-32 South Africa tour of Britain and Ireland was a collection of friendly rugby union games undertaken by the South Africa national rugby union team against the four British Home Nation teams. The tour also took in several matches against British and Irish club, county and invitational teams...

. His final game was at Ravenhill

Ravenhill Stadium

Ravenhill Stadium is located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is used by Ulster Rugby. It has a normal capacity of 12,300 and is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union.-History:The grounds were opened in the 1923/24 season...

 against Ireland in 1933, when Wales lost the selectors dropped 11 players from the squad. Bowdler was one of them.

International matches played

Wales 1928, 1929, 1930, 1932 1928, 1929 1928, 1929, 1932, 1933 New South Wales Waratahs

New South Wales Waratahs

The New South Wales Waratahs are an Australian rugby union football team, representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super 15 Super Rugby competition...

1927 1928, 1929, 1932 1931