"Dai" Gent

Dai Gent

By Malc King

David Robert Gent was born in Wales, at Llandovery, on 9 January 1883. He first played rugby at Llandovery school, where he made his mark as a full-back. He played several games for Llanelly, before moving to Cheltenham to train to be a teacher at St Paul’s College. He then joined Gloucester during the 1903-04 season, and soon formed a successful half-back pairing with Jim Stephens, replacing Hall and Goddard who had joined the Northern Union.

He played 19 games for Gloucester in that first season, the second against Blackheath and the England full-back, Gamlin, who prevented Gloucester’s George Romans from getting an international cap. Dai recounted that in that match he had one fixed resolve – not to let Gamlin lay a finger on him.  

He made 140 appearances at half-back for Gloucester between 1903 and 1911, and was appointed captain for the 1906-07 season. Dai himself regarded Tommy Bagwell (trainer and the heart and soul of Gloucester rugby) and George Romans (captain in his first 3 seasons at the club) as his mentors, and remained grateful for their help for the rest of his life.  

Dai was only 5ft 2 ½ in, and yet is generally acknowledged to have been one of the greatest scrum-halves ever to have played for Gloucester – he was dubbed as “the tiny giant of Gloucester rugby”. He may have been small, but he was “courageous to a degree”, he was a clever player who was especially gifted in “football brains”, and his play was always of a constructive nature. Bill Bailey described him as “one of the big men that Gloucester has given to England”, and Laurence Woodhouse wrote that “he must surely be one of the most “pigmiest” of giants who ever donned a Rugby boot”.  

Gent was a regular in the Gloucestershire team, was captain from 1908 to 1911, and led them to victory in the County Championship in 1909-10, when Yorkshire were defeated in the Final by 23 points. At the time Gloucestershire boasted 6 internationals in their side, and used to throw the ball around in Barbarian fashion. Gent was influential in this style as captain and scrum-half, and as a fine attacking player himself. He always got the ball away quickly, and always preached the gospel that the scrum-half should not try to do much on his own; he was adept at the reverse pass, in which he was a great believer.  

Partly because of his size, he was lauded as a “giant-slayer”. On one occasion, when Gloucestershire were playing Somerset, a certain Somerset forward, W Cunningham, who stood 6ft 4ins and weighed 13st 10lbs, gained possession of the ball. At this mountain of brawn and muscle, Dai Gent hurled himself and brought the great man down. Cunningham fell awkwardly and was laid out, and the crowd roared with laughter for many a minute. Indeed, in spite of his lack of inches and weight, he revelled in defensive work – a really fearless tackler, he would go down in the most daring manner to the fiercest rushes.  

Dai was qualified to play for Wales by birth, and for England by residence. He had 2 trials for Wales, and it is said that only the wizard Dicky Owen stopped him appearing in a Welsh jersey – indeed in 1904/5 Dai was selected by Wales as first reserve to Owen. He never made it into the Welsh team, and England quickly stepped in, snapped him up and awarded him 5 caps, with a baptism of fire against the All Blacks:  

2 December 1905 v New Zealand at Crystal Palace

13 January 1906 v Wales at Richmond

10 February 1906 v Ireland at Leicester

15 January 1910 v Wales at Twickenham

12 February 1910 v Ireland at Twickenham  

So, he played in England’s first two matches at Twickenham, and never played in an away international. He is credited with salvaging a draw against Ireland in his last international, when “the Irish forwards played the deuce with us, and but for really desperate work by Gent would have beaten us”.  

Dai Gent learnt his rugby when it was customary for the two half-backs to alternate between their functions, according to the side of the field in which the game found itself. At Gloucester this pattern of play was dropped, so that Dai played scrum-half all the time. However, when he played for England he found that his half-back partner, W V Butcher of Richmond, was of the old school, so he had quickly to adjust to playing scrum-half on the left side of the field, and outside-half on the right side. It was not a success.  

When he left Gloucester, it was to become a headmaster at Saltash, and whilst there he turned out for Plymouth and Cornwall. He later moved to Eastbourne, where he was headmaster of a large school.   After WW1, he became Rugby Correspondent of the Sunday Times, a post he combined with his teaching duties for many years, and in which he was judged to be a perceptive but kindly critic.  

Dai Gent died on 16 January 1964, age 81, at Hellingly in Sussex. After his death, Arthur Hudson wrote the following tribute – “I have Dai Gent to thank for many of the tries I scored for Gloucester, Gloucestershire and England. His service from the scrum was the best any threequarter line could wish for. As a journalist he was one of the most knowledgeable and gifted and I always say that as a man he had plenty of friends and no enemies. He was such a good and intelligent conversationalist.”