'Shadow' The Dai Morris Story- Review

“Shadow” was the nickname bestowed on Dai Morris by Gareth Edwards because of the support his flanker could always provide and that is the title of a new book compiled by writer and broadcaster Martyn Williams.

Morris is one of the great unsung heroes of Welsh rugby and this biography of him is long overdue, as those who gathered in Rhigos rugby club for the book launch – including WRU president Dennis Gethin and entertainer Max Boyce - all agreed.

The last of his type, putting in a shift underground before turning up for international matches, Dai Morris was described by former Wales captain Clive Rowlands as “the perfect rôle model”.

In the book, he comes across not just as the ideal rugby player but also as a one-man animal rescue unit as well as one-time racehorse owner. He is revered in the village of his birth as the doyen of Rhigos rugby football club, the club for whose re-emergence after the war years he was mainly responsible.

So engrossed with his home was Dai Morris that on tours outside the UK his watch was always set to Rhigos time so that he would know exactly what was going on in the village. This self-confessed weakness, a dislike of being away from home, may have been a contributory reason why he was not chosen to join the winning Lions’ 1971 tour of New Zealand.

Reference is made to the near-telepathic understanding between Baz, Shadow and Swerve - John Taylor and Morris, with Merv Davies at no 8 - which of its era was the most potent back row combination in rugby. The job of the flankers was to make the opposition turn inside where Merv would invariably be waiting.

So uncomplicated was the man that, called up for his first cap to replace the injured Alun Pask in Paris, he had to report that he had no passport. With no wish to fly, he eventually made his way by boat to link up with the team.

Nevertheless, he has some trenchant views on modern rugby: “now more about retention than exploitation”.

Winner of 34 Wales caps and similarly proud of his 414 games for Neath, Dai Morris was every inch the working class hero. Tributes from contemporaries including Gareth Edwards, Gerald Davies, John Dawes, Barry John and Phil Bennett are included in this highly entertaining biography.

ISBN: 9781847714862

Review Courtesy of Barri Hurford