Johnny Thomas (rugby) Johnny Thomas (rugby) John Thomas ( – 25 September 1954), also known by the nicknames of "Johnny", and "Johny", was a Welsh rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s, 1910s and 1920s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, and at club level for Maesteg RFC and Cardiff RFC, as a full-back or scrum-half, i.e. number 15, or 9, and representative level rugby league (RL) for Great Britain, Wales, Glamorgan and Lancashire, and at club level for Wigan, as a or , i.e. number 6 (number 10 in a 15-player team),
Scrum (rugby union) the "first up, first down" down method, with the first players to a scrum packing down in the front row and the rest of the forwards filling the remaining positions. Although the 1905 All Blacks are often credited with introducing specialised scrum positions, the 1888-1889 New Zealand Native football team had in fact practised this. As well, Thomas Ellison, one of the Natives, invented the 2-3-2 scrum formation. This seven man scrum was very popular in New Zealand until being outlawed in 1932. The extra man available because he was not in the scrum was called a "wing forward" and