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) with a strategy where their pack would push at the same time the hooker would strike for the ball. This not only meant they got the hooked ball, but also the opposition had to retreat to stay onside. Eventually, other teams found out what the All Blacks were doing and copied them. Referees stopped enforcing the straight feed into the scrum, and as a result scrum-halves started feeding the ball further on their side of the scrum. Opposing hookers gave up trying to hook for the ball and instead focused on adding power to the pack's drive. This turned the