Edgar Long
| Full name | Edgar Cecil Long | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Gower, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Swansea, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position(s) | Flanker | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Amateur team(s) | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
| 1925-1939 | Swansea RFC | () | |
| National team(s) | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
| 1936–1939 | Wales | 7 | ((0)) |
Edgar 'Eddie' Long (1907–31 January 1958) was a Welsh international rugby union flanker who played club rugby for Swansea and was capped seven times for Wales. He is best remembered not for his international duties, but for his marshalling of the Swansea pack during the clubs victory of the 1935 touring New Zealand team.
Long joined Swansea in 1925 while still a teenager and spent almost the entirety of his sporting career with the club. While playing with the 'All Whites' he faced several touring teams including the Māoris, the Waratahs, South Africa and New Zealand. In the game against New Zealand in 1935, Edgar led the Swansea team as club captain in a notable victory over one of the most impressive rugby teams of the day. Known by many as the game in which schoolboys Willie Davies and Claude Davey 'beat' the All Blacks, the contribution of Long and the rest of the forwards is often forgotten. In the second half of the game, Long switched the play of his pack into adopting 'spoiling' tactics, matching the New Zealand's own often physical style, in an attempt to slow the game down. The tactics succeeded but resulted in 'unpardonable scenes' in which both sides switched to fist fighting as players tired towards the end of the game. The win for Swansea gave them the record of being the first team to beat all three major Southern hemisphere teams. While club captain during the 1935/36 season, Long was also the season's top points scorer.
Long was first capped for Wales in a 1936 Home Nations Championship match against England at St Helens. The game was a surprising 0-0 draw, with many supporters disappointed as both teams had shown flair in beating the touring New Zealanders just a few weeks earlier. Long was recalled for the next two games of the tournament, which saw Wales beat both Scotland and Ireland to win the Championship.
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