Birth name | Ernest Melville Rowlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 21 September 1864 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Neath, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 7 April 1940 | (aged 75)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
University | University of Wales, Lampeter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ernest Melville Rowlands (21 September 1864 – 7 April 1940) was a Welsh international rugby union player who played rugby for St David's College, Lampeter, and international rugby for Wales.
Rowland was born in Neath, 1864 to Evan Rowland and Jane Morris. After graduating from St David's College, Lampeter, Rowland emigrated to Canada. He was ordained Deacon of the Mission at Clarendon with Palmerston in the Diocese of Ontario in 1894.[1] He married Hannah Lillian Gilbert on 18 June 1896.[2]
Rowland was awarded his first and only cap for Wales while still at St David's College, Lampeter. Playing against England as part of the 1895 Home Nations Championship, Rowland was brought into the Welsh pack alongside fellow debutants Lewis Cobden Thomas and Evan Richards. This was the fourth time Wales had played England, and as in the three previous matches England were victorious over the Welsh team. Rowland was replaced for the next game, against Ireland, by Willie Thomas of Llandovery College, and never represented Wales again.
Wales (rugby union)[3]