Swansea RFC 1st XV 1888-89 Season.Played: 28, Won: 13, Lost: 9, Drawn: 6. Points For: 183, Against: 145.

Back Row(L to R): george Bowen, W H Jones, -?-, William Bowen, W McCutcheon, Tom Williams. 2nd Row(L to R): Frank Purdon, W H Towers (Captain), E Thorogood, W H Howells.
Front Row(L to R): W H Gwynn, David Dwynn, D Morgan.

On December 24th 1888 the New Zealand Maoris team touring Great Britain were hosted at a match at St Helens defeating Swansea by 11 points to nil. This was the first of the Touring sides to visit Britain and Swansea's inclusion in their fixture list began a great tradition at St Helens with visiting tourist sides. The tourists were not all Maoris, being bolstered by several Colonists and captained by J A Warbrick, one of 5 Warbrick brothers to play for the team.

Swansea's Captain, Billy Towers (above) led the home side against the Maoris and had gained the second of his two Welsh Caps two days previously at St Helens when Wales defeated the Maoris by 5 points to nil (Dec 22nd