The Battle of the Gnoll - Neath v South Africa

The Gnoll is a modest ground. Accommodating roughly 6000 spectators and located in the town of Neath in South Wales, it is home to Neath RFC (commonly known as the Welsh All Blacks due to their predominantly black playing kit) and played host to one of the bloodiest encounters between two rugby sides in living memory.

When the final whistle sounded, the scoreboard read: Neath 13, Springboks 16. An impressive result for the Welsh club, but when the game is remembered and recounted, the score is relegated to the ‘after-thought’ section of the mind.

On the evening of 2 November 1994, Neath and the Springboks took to the playing field in a mid-week fixture on the schedule of the latter’s tour of Britain.

It was not uncommon in the amateur era for mid-week games to have a bit of bite in them as the home sides usually enjoyed little prospect of victory (as far as points were concerned), but often revelled in the opportunity to soften their opponents up somewhat before the Saturday test match.

What transpired was a 30 man fight peppered with short passages of rugby.

The Springboks boasted several hard men in their ranks with the likes of Kobus Wiese, James Dalton, Tiaan Strauss and Mark Andrews.

Neath’s most notable ‘no-nonsense’ representative was Brian Williams – a farmer who once nearly completely severed his arm in an agricultural accident, proceeded to walk across several fields in his state in search of help, and was back on the rugby pitch a few short months later.

Neath’s then captain, Gareth Llewellyn recalls:

“Brian Williams was poleaxed from behind by Tiaan Strauss. He was dazed and confused and really needed some time to come to his senses.

“At the same time Andrew Kembery was bleeding from the fighting. I got hold of Kembery, wiped some of his blood onto Brian and told the ref that Brian needed to get tidied up for a few minutes on the sidelines.

“It did the job.

“He had a few minutes to gather his thoughts and then came back on, as aggressive as ever.

“At one point, Brian took on three of them.

“That wasn’t a fair fight, then.

“I’m surprised more South Africans didn’t get involved to even up the odds.”

With the hard packing sounds of fists to faces and blood dripping from almost every participant, the game still enjoys legendary status in rugby circles.