Peter Morgan, Wales rugby player and politician

The son of a sharp Welsh trader, Peter Morgan had a reputation among his Lions team-mates for being careful with money. On their tour of South Africa in 1980 it became a running joke that he would often be found haggling for a bargain in a street market somewhere. So it came as a surprise to them that, upon returning to Wales, he spurned a world-record offer of £300,000 to transition to rugby league for St Helens.
Morgan’s place in the Wales team was far from settled in that he was to play in every threequarter position in his limited appearances for his country and the Lions. He played in only four Tests for Wales and did not represent them beyond 1981 owing to breaking a leg in a club match that subsequently appeared to affect his turn of speed. Yet he had no wish to leave The Havens in Pembrokeshire and was to play on for Llanelli in club rugby until 1988.
Morgan had broken into the Wales squad as a teenager. His ability to play in any position outside the scrum proved a strength and a weakness: although touted as the long-term replacement for the exceptional JPR Williams at full back, he was viewed as the ideal covering player for anyone injured or out of form. Carwyn James, the renowned coach, criticised the Lions management for not selecting him for any of the Tests on the tour of South Africa.
James said of Morgan, who played in seven tour matches: “Peter was the infant of the party in years, but more gifted than most. He had to carry the utility tag. Utility players fill gaps and on the 1980 tour there were few gaps for him to fill. One of the severest criticisms of the management is that they neglected him.” His career bore comparison to that in a different sport of the Leeds United and England footballer Paul Madeley, who played in the same era in every position bar goalkeeper and hence was not regarded as a specialist.
Although in 1984 Morgan captained Llanelli to a notable victory over Australia, albeit an under-strength team, an injury the following year was the prelude to the winding-down of his rugby career. He went into local politics, becoming The Havens’ independent councillor for 16 years. Each December he would try to ensure that everyone in his area enjoyed a Christmas lunch. He served as vice-chairman and chairman of Pembrokeshire county council and sat on various committees, including planning and corporate governance.
He was instrumental in modernising the sea defences at Little Haven, a project that safeguarded the village against increasingly severe storms. He would help run the family shop and post office, and was an auxiliary coastguard and lifeboat crew member. One of his old friends, Andrew Grey, ran the pub in the village but unlike many rugby players of their vintage, Morgan rarely drank, coming in only on New Year’s Day, which was also his birthday. “Peter was a lovable man who enjoyed mischievous pranks. A reporter’s dream,” said Peter Jackson, the Wales-based rugby writer. “He was never one to say he should have had more caps.”
Peter John Morgan was born in 1959 in Haverfordwest, the son of Johnny Morgan, whose interests ranged from coal to working as a builder, a butcher and a milkman and who made the most of cargo washed up on St Brides Bay from shipwrecks and spillages. His wife, Elizabeth, was a teacher at Broad Haven Primary School. Peter was educated at Sir Thomas Picton School and from his early years his athleticism set him apart from other pupils.
Morgan was fortunate in that the sports master, Peter Herbert, was keen on rugby — he was to become a fitness coach for Llanelli and Wales — and swiftly spotted Morgan’s talent. His protégé trained on the nearby sandy beach and won his first Welsh youth cap in 1977 against a French team that included Serge Blanco, who was to become one of their greatest players. The following season Morgan broke an ankle, but recovered to be a member of the Llanelli team that won a sevens tournament.
He was chosen to play at full back for Wales against Romania in 1979, when caps were not awarded, and made his full international debut, as a replacement for a centre, against Scotland in the Five Nations tournament of 1980. In the next match, when Wales were defeated by Ireland, he played from the outset at fly half, which was regarded as his best position in that he possessed pace, an eye for a gap and a sidestep. Yet only two further caps were to follow. JJ Williams, the Wales and Lions wing, recalled in his autobiography: “I can vouch that it was a pleasure to play outside Peter even if I couldn’t understand a word he spoke in his Pembrokeshire dialect”.
Morgan met his wife, Helen Williams, through rugby. She was the daughter of Ray Williams, a leading rugby administrator. She is in remission after breast cancer and survives him, along with their two daughters, Nia, a nurse, and Lowri, a seamstress who was married this summer. Although in poor health, her father was able to give her away. He had been fortunate to survive a stroke in 2012 when about to embark on a cruise from Southampton and taken to a nearby hospital that specialised in neurology.
Morgan’s competitive instincts never left him. He and Grey took part in a “mackerel madness” race-off in Little Haven, competing with 11 other small boats to catch the most such fish in half an hour. They returned with a haul of 160, more than sufficient to share with the community he cherished.
Peter Morgan, rugby player, was born on January 1, 1959. He died of a brain tumour on July 27, 2024, aged 65