Jehoida Hodges

Jehoida Hodges
Hodges in Newport jersey
Birth nameJoseph Jehoida Hodges
Date of birth(1876-07-15)15 July 1876
Place of birthRisca,[1] Monmouthshire, Wales
Date of death13 September 1930(1930-09-13) (aged 54)
Place of deathWaunlwyd, Wales
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[2]
Weight13 st 0 lb (83 kg)
Occupation(s)miner
publican
Rugby union career
Position(s) Forward
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
London Welsh ()
1897/1909 Newport RFC[3] 252 (90)
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1899-1906 Wales 23 (18)

Joseph Jehoida Hodges[4] (15 July 1876 – 13 September 1930) was a Welsh international rugby union player.[3] He was a member of the winning Welsh team who beat the 1905 touring All Blacks in the famous Match of the Century. He played club rugby for London Welsh and Newport RFC.

Hodges, along with fellow Welsh internationals George Boots, and later George Travers is recognised with adopting forward formation play in scrums and line outs. Although forwards were responsible for these areas of play, there was little defined tactics or specialisation before the early twentieth century. Hodges helped bring tactical formations and therefore a level of specialisation to forward play.[2] He was described as a hard working and an excellent all-round player who could fill in at most positions,[5] even on the wing.[6]

  1. ^ WRU player profile[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ a b Thomas (1979), pg 24.
  3. ^ a b "Newport RFC Personnel Profile". Archived from the original on 2011-05-18. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  4. ^ Newport Gwent Dragons player profiles Archived 2011-05-18 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Smith (1980), pg 115.
  6. ^ Parry-Jones (1999), pg 102.