Gerald Davies became the 50th President of the Welsh Rugby Union in October, 2019, when he took over from another former Cambridge Blue, Dennis Gethin.
The eighth former Wales international to reach the top post in Welsh rugby, he won the first and last of his 46 Welsh caps against Australia. His debut came in Cardiff on 3 December, 1966, while his final appearance was in Sydney on 17 June, 1978, when he captained his country for the second time, the first was against Tonga.
He won three Blues while studying English Literature at Emmanuel College (where in 2011 he was honoured with an Honorary Fellowship). He captained Cambridge in 1970. At that stage he had already been capped by both Wales and the British & Irish Lions. He played in five Tests for the Lions on the 1968 (1) and 1971 (4) tours to South Africa and New Zealand respectively. He scored three Test tries for the Lions and, at the time, a recording equalling 20 for Wales as he helped his country win Grand Slams and Triple Crowns in 1971, 1976 and 1978 and further Triple Crowns in 1969 and 1977.
He began his playing career with Llanelli and later played club rugby for London Welsh and Cardiff. He was captain of Cardiff for three successive seasons which included the club’s centenary season in 1976/77.
He served on the WRU Board of Directors for nine years between 2005-14, during which time he sat on the boards of the International Rugby Board and the British and Irish Lions, was the Lions Manager to South Africa in 2009 and between 2009 and 2015 was the Chairman.
In 2015, he was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame and he became chairman of the Guinness PRO14. He was made CBE in 2002 for his services to young people and rugby in Wales – he was chairman of the Wales Youth Agency at the time – and became a Deputy Lieutenant of Gwent. He holds Honorary Fellowships from the University of South Wales, Aberystwyth, Cardiff, Lampeter (now Trinity St David), Metropolitan and Wrexham Glyndwr Universities and Honorary Doctorates from Loughborough and Swansea Universities for services to sport and journalism.
Gerald is married to Cilla. They have two children, Emily and Ben and four grandchildren.