Phil Bennett used to tell a tale of how as a 19-year-old skippering Llanelli, he knocked on the door of Neath’s dressing room at The Gnoll for the coin toss.
Out came the formidable and monstrous figure of Brian Thomas, Cambridge-educated but with a ruthless on-pitch streak and a man not averse to the occasional spot of intimidation. That day, Thomas looked as if he had just learned a lorry had reversed over his new car.
Informed that the visitors had come about the coin toss, the big man is said to have growled back: “We’ll kick off and play with the wind in the first half, and if you don’t f*** off we’ll do the same in the second half as well.”
