Charlie Faulkner

[1] Charlie joined Pontypool from Cross Keys in September 1972 and went on to make 210 Pooler appearances and scored 12 tries.

He also played for the Barbarians and, in January 1975, made history with his fellow Pontypool front row colleagues, hooker Bobby Windsor and tight head prop Graham Price to be the first club front row to be selected to play for Wales, against France, in Paris.

The Front Row also represented Monmouthshire and the British Lions in 1977 when Charlie was a replacement on the tour and the trio played in three of the last five games – against Counties/Thames Valley, Bay of Plenty and the game against Fiji on their journey home – the first club front row to play for the British Lions.

The Front Row was referred to as the ‘Viet Gwent’ in a song called ‘Up and Under, Here We Go’ by Max Boyce, the popular Welsh entertainer.

Faulkner was a Judo Black Belt and a steelworker by trade – both factors conjoining to make him a formidable scrummager who was mobile in the loose, able to score tries even at the international level.