Lewis Jones

Benjamin Lewis Jones (11 April 1931 – 4 March 2024) was a Welsh rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s. A dual-code rugby international, he won ten caps for Wales and three for the British Lions in rugby union, and two for Wales and 15 for Great Britain in rugby league.

In rugby union, he played as a full-back, centre and wing for Llanelli and Neath before turning professional and playing rugby league for Leeds, Wentworthville and Dewsbury RLFC, as well as Other Nationalities. A broken arm prevented him having much impact in his first season but in the 1953–54 season he scored 302 points and he first represented Wales in 1953 against France. Jones toured Australasia in 1954. In 1956–57 he scored 496 points, Jones also set the record for most points in a test series in 1956–57. He played in the 1957 World Cup.

Jones also represented Great Britain while at Leeds between 1952 and 1956 against France (two non-test matches). Lewis Jones represented the Rest of the World in the 11–20 defeat by Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground on 29 June 1957.

Jones won 15 caps for Great Britain at rugby league, scoring in every game he played. He spent six years as a player-coach and a further two years as coach of the Wentworthville Magpies in Australia. During his eight-year tenure Wentworthville won seven Second Division premierships. A schoolteacher by profession, he later taught mathematics in Leeds.

After playing At a ceremony at Wheldon Road, the home of Castleford, on 20 August 2009, Jones was named as one of thirteen rugby league footballers to be honoured by the Arriva Yorkshire bus operator by having a fleet of new buses named after them. Members of the public, supported by local rugby league journalists James Deighton (BBC Leeds) and Tim Butcher (editor of Rugby League World), nominated the best ever rugby league footballers to have played in West Yorkshire for the 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team'.

In 2013, Jones and three other former players were inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame.