RIP Kevin Bowring

It is yet another sad day for all of us at London Welsh as I have to break the news of the loss of yet another of our greats, Kevin Bowring.

Whilst Kevin did no play for Wales like so many other greats at London Welsh, Kevin would hold the historic honour of being the first professional coach of the Welsh National side from 1995 to 1998.

Though a Neath boy, Kevin was living in the South East of England between training to be a PE teacher whilst living in Isleworth to becoming a teacher in Reading (where he taught in the same school as London Welshman Clive Rees).

And it was during that period that Kevin would tour with the famous Voyagers sevens side to Amsterdam, and as fate would have it be persuaded by Clive Rees to join London Welsh. In 1977 Kevin took the advice of his Voyagers teammate and joined London Welsh.

In the 9 years Kevin played for our club he appeared in 268 games, captaining the club for 3 seasons and representing the Barbarians on 3 occasions.

One of the highlights of Kevin's long career at Welsh being when he was in the side Captained by his long time friend and teammate, Clive Rees when London Welsh played Bath at Twickenham in the 1985 John Player Cup Final in which Welsh unfortunately lost to a Bath side boasting 9 England Internationals 24 - 15.

There is so much more to tell that I believe I cannot do justice to in one article, so I will leave it for you all to hear from the words of the great man himself when he spoke to our own Gareth Vaughan Jones on his podcast in 2021.

Rest in Peace/gorffwys mewn heddwch Kevin