His body was never recovered and the first player to win a Wales cap from his home-town team of Maesteg became one of thousands of names who had their courage recorded by a naming reference at the Thiepval Memorial after sacrificing his life for King and Country.
It could all have been so different for the collier who lived his whole life in Maesteg. His was a reserved occupation and he could have stayed at the coal face instead of enlisting and heading to the killing fields of France. Having worked underground for more than 15 years, maybe the prospect of some fresh air and Army life held some appeal, regardless of the dangers.
Watts was born into a mining family in Maesteg on 14 March, 1886, and census returns show him living in Talbot Terrace and then Garn Road. By the age of 16 he was listed as a ‘coal hewer’, but would have gone straight to the local pit on leaving school a few years earlier.
He signed up in Maesteg in September, 1914, and was sent to join the 7th Battalion, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry after completing his basic training. He landed in Boulougne on 15 October, 1915, and first saw service around the Ypres salient.
His regiment were moved south to join the Somme offensive and were moved up from reserve to take part in the push to capture the Bazentin Ridge. Two Welsh rugby internationals had been killed as a result of the offensive to capture Mametz Wood the previous week – Dick Thomas and Johnnie Williams – and the British Army moved onwards in a continuation of the push through German lines.
The Battle of Bazentin Ridge ran from 14-17 July and comprised part of the second phase of the Somme Offensive. Depsite massive shelling by the British artillery, the German barbed wire defences weren’t damaged anywhere near as much as had been predicted and Watts and so many of his comrades perished as they found themselves held up in no man’s land.
In total, 16 officers were either killed or wounded, 147 other ranks were killed outright, 278 other men were wounded and 16 men were missing. Watts was one of those men who was picked off by the Germans and his body was never found. Corporal David Watts died on 16 July, 1916, four months after celebrating his 30th birthday.
Watts learned his rugby with Aberaman Cynon Stars Junior Rugby Club and Rhymney RFC before joining Maesteg. He helped his home town team to win the Glamorgan Challenge Cup in 1912 and went on to become the club’s first Welsh international when he as one of five new caps selected to travel to Twickenham to face an England side that were not only the reigning Grand Slam champions, but had lost only once in their previous nine championship matches.
The home side blooded six news caps and made the most of a Welsh mistake late on in the game to steal victory by a single point. The Welsh selectors made two changes behind the scrum for the next game against Scotland, but kept their pack intact throughout the tournament.
The Scots’ were seen off 24-5 in a game that saw their skipper David Bain require six stitches and proclaim afterwards that ‘the dirtier team won’. It was the birth of the legend of the ‘Terrible Eight’, the Welsh pack containing four colliers and led by the Reverend Alban Davies.
The Times proclaimed Wales to be the better team at Twickenham – “These Welshmen knew every move of forward play” – while the local papers were full of glowing tributes to the awesome power fo the Welsh pack in the opening two matches:
INTERNATIONAL RUGBY FOOTBALL
England beat Wales, at Twickenham, on Saturday, by two goals (10 points) to one goal and one dropped goal (9 points). It was probably the finest game ever seen on the Twickenham ground. The English team pulled the game out of the fire by sheer persistence and the seizing of every minute chance when the Welsh side, from magnificent forward play, seemed almost assured of victory. As it was England’s second try was not gained until eight minutes before the close. The English captain, R. W. Poulton, played a very important part in the success of his side. The game was an old story reversed, Welsh forwards against English three-quarter backs.
WALES V SCOTLAND
The record of 22 years of Welsh triumph in South Wales was not disturbed, and great though the margin between the sides was, it did not do more than represent the superiority of the victors. Wales were all powerful just exactly where they were calculated to show their superiority, and their forwards were so overwhelmingly better than the opposing pack that the journey, for them, was comparatively simple. The Scots had a magnificent set-off. Never was a more inspiring start given to a National side; but the power of the Welsh pack gradually wore their antagonists down, and in the closing stages it was virtually a debacle.
The hapless French, still finding their feet in the championship, were beaten 31-0 with seven tries at St Helen’s, Swansea, before the Welsh team headed to Belfast for a showdown with the Irish at the Balmoral Showgrounds. This game, on 14 March, 1914, has gone down in the annals of rugby history as the roughest match ever played.
The ‘fun’ all began at the Theatre the night before the game. Ireland’s pack leader, Dr William Tyrell, spotted Percy Jones and said: “It’s you and me for it tomorrow”. Jones, a colliery foreman from Pontypool, smiled and simply said: “I’ll be with you, doing the best I can.” Another member of the tight-knit Welsh pack then asked “Can anyone join in?”
What happened the next day was a virtual running battle between the two sets of forwards. Wales outscored the home side three tries to one in a 11-3 win and even Tyrell had to concede that his team had been beaten by a better and stronger side. “You’re the only Welshman who ever beat me,” he told Jones at the end of the game!
For the record, the ‘Terrible Eight’ were:
Rev Alban Davies (Swansea, captain), David Watts (Maesteg), Bedwellty Jones (Abertillery), Thomas Lloyd (Neath), Percy Jones (Pontypool), Tom Williams (Swansea), Edgar Morgan (Swansa), Harry Uzzell (Newport)
There was only one more major match for Watts to enjoy before his untimely death when he joined four of his 1914 pack members in an uncapped game against the Barbarians at Cardiff Arms Park on 17 April, 1915. The game was played to raise awareness of Lord Kitchener’s recruitment campaign and to raise funds for the war effort.
