Say goodbye to the old Lansdowne Road.1950 - The Bedford Town Colts team of l949/50 went through the whole season unbeaten but the officials of the Club were concerned that young men of under 18 years of age were not physically mature enough for first team football and that they should be encouraged to gain more experience before being picked for the Town side. The boys themselves did not want to split up and join other local clubs and so at a special meeting held on the 31st March 1950 and with the help of the Bedford Club, it was decided to form a new Rugby Club in the Town, mainly for young players of between 18 and 22 years of age. The names of both Rovers and Swifts were put forward for the new club and it appears that the meeting favored Rovers but an elderly gentleman who had been sitting quietly at the back of the room got to his feet and in a rather nervous voice introduced himself as the very last surviving member of the original Swifts that had ceased to operate in 1886. Those present listened intently when he made a special personal request that the new club take the name Swifts in order to ensure that the name was not lost forever. With a unanimous vote it was agreed the new club should be called Bedford Swifts Rugby Union Football Club.
In 1950 Renown pictures filmed Tom Brown's school days at Rugby school, see below:
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12th March 1950
An AVRO-TUDOR V plane carrying 78 Welsh rugby fans and five crew crashed into a field near Llandow in the Vale of Glamorgan. The plane was packed with supporters fresh from celebrating a 6-3 victory over Ireland in Dublin which had given Wales their first Triple Crown for 39 years and their eighth in all. Of the 83 people on board only three survived Abercarn RFC lost their captain Don Rowlands, coach Ray Box, centre Doug Burnett and their kit-man Albert Robbins. Five members of the Llanharan rugby team were also lost including Henry Pascoe.
On 25 March in the final game of the 1950 Championship against France at the Cardiff Arms Park, the crowd stood in silence while five buglers sounded a Last Post tribute to the memory of the supporters who had died in the plane crash.
1952
March 8th - Wales, spearheaded by Cliff Morgan, won the Triple Crown for the ninth time with a 14-3 defeat of Ireland in Dublin. It was their first game there since 1927 (matches in the intervening period had taken place in Belfast) and their first win at Lansdowne Road since 1910. A fortnight later Wales beat France to complete the Grand Slam.
1953 - October 31st, The Fourth All Blacks began their tour with a convincing 24-0 win against the Southern Counties at Hove Greyhound Stadium.
1954 - The first Murrayfield international televised in its entirety was the Scotland-New Zealand game in February 1954.
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1958 - Wales played England at Twickenham but due to a supplier error, had to play in jerseys which did not contain the Welsh emblem, the prince of Wales feathers.
March 1st - France lose 14-0 to England in Paris, also the home crowd of more than 60,000 turned on them after a dismal first-half performance . The real fury was reserved for the selectors. "They were called distinctly rude names and some of their forbears too, and a yell went up for the blood of the chairman," reported the Times. After three first-half tries, England failed to capitalise on what newspapers described as "France's complete disintegration" and the second-half was best forgotten.
1959 - William Webb Ellis's grave is located in October 1959 at Menton, on the French riviera, France and is now cared for by local enthusiasts. His final resting place (Caveau numéro 957 dans le cimetiére du Vieux Château à Menton in the Alpes-Maritimes) was tracked down by Ross McWhirter of "Guiness book of records" fame and a local journalist and former rugby player Roger Dries. Once it had been renovated and decked with the Union Jack and the Tri-color it was visited by the President, the captain of the French team and a brass band.
New Zealand vs British Isles test series:
| First Test | 18 July, 1959 | Carisbrook, Dunedin | New Zealand | 18 | British Isles | 17 |
| Second Test | 15 August, 1959 | Athletic Park, Wellington | New Zealand | 11 | British Isles | 8 |
| Third Test | 29 August, 1959 | Lancaster Park, Christchurch | New Zealand | 22 | British Isles | 8 |
| Forth Test | 19 September, 1959 | Eden Park, Auckland | New Zealand | 6 | British Isles | 9 |
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| Bev. Risman plunges over to score the winning try against New Zealand for the British Isles, in the final test. Don Clarke is seen flying in from the left. New Zealand win the series 3 -1. |
Tony Mason & Tony Wright found the famous traveling club, The Penguins in the hope of fostering the growth of the game and the friendship with other countries by playing open rugby. The Penguins have played all over the world including: America, Argentina, Bermuda, France, Germany, Holland, Portugal, Rhodesia (as was), Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Zambia to name but a few.
17 October: Twickenham Jubilee celebration match - England and Wales -v- Ireland and Scotland (26 - 17).
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