TRIBUTES have been paid to enormously popular Newport rugby legend Alan ‘Algy’ Thomas who has passed away at the age of 75.

The openside flanker will forever be part of Black and Ambers folklore for being such an instrumental part of the side which beat the All Blacks 3-0 at Rodney Parade in 1963.

He was born in Beckenham, London, to a Welsh father, whose rather colourful occupation was that of a circus boxer, and an English mother who was related to rock and roll royalty in the form of Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman.

Mr Thomas was evacuated to the Rhymney Valley during the height of the Blitz in 1941 when Hitler’s Luftwaffe was trying to bomb Britain into submission.

His family settled in Fochriw where his father returned to work underground as a coalminer after giving up his life in the ring as a prizefighter.

Algy attended Bargoed Grammar School and as a young man gave up his planned career while studying to be a mining manager after his father was killed in an accident while working at Ogilvie Colliery, Deri.

A former Tredegar, Ebbw Vale, Cross Keys, Pontypool and Neath back row forward, Mr Thomas spent most of his playing days at Rodney Parade, making his Newport debut against Penarth in September 1961.

He went on to play 213 times for the club, scoring a remarkable 42 tries for a flanker, before ending his Black and Ambers career in the 1967/68 season.

A winner of two Wales caps, the first awarded against New Zealand after his triumph with Newport in 1963, he also represented the Barbarians and coached Newport Saracens.

A keen bodybuilder with a powerful physique, he was a Mr Wales contestant.

A successful businessman, he remained a regular fixture at Black and Ambers functions and was inducted into the Newport Hall of Fame in 2014.

His captain when they beat the All Blacks, fellow club great Brian Price, said of Mr Thomas: “I played alongside him from Bargoed Grammar School to Newport, the Barbarians and Wales.

“Algy was a very good friend. He always had a broad smile on his face and was a very popular man.

“He was a great character, the life and soul of the party, and I am going to miss him terribly.

“It was his try-saving tackle in the last minute of the New Zealand game (on All Blacks wing RL Davis) which won the match for us.

“I think he relived that tackle a million times – and he must have told us about it a million times too!”

Newport historian Mike Dams added: “Algy was such a lovely, likeable guy and goodness knows, he had some stories to tell about his life.

“Things won't be quite the same at Rodney Parade without him. He was a regular and popular visitor and will be sadly missed.”

Mr Thomas leaves his wife Jane, children Richard and Sarah and two grandchildren.

Services will be held at St Illtud’s Church in Church Village, Pontypridd at 11am and then at Thornhill Crematorium, Cardiff, at 12.30pm on Tuesday, November 3.