'I SPENT HALF MY LIFE BREAKING BONES... AND THE OTHER HALF PUTTING THEM BACK TOGETHER'

Icon and all-time great JPR was a fearless player and top surgeon

- MIKE WALTERS

AS a fearless full-back, John Peter Rhys Williams - known as JPR in rugby and beyond - was one of the all-time greats.

Socks rolled down by his ankles, sideburns like Noddy Holder from Slade, and brave as they come, Williams broke bones on international duty for Wales and the British & Irish Lions.

And as an orthopaedic surgeon by trade, fractures were his day job.

"I used to say that I spent half my life breaking bones on the rugby field, then the other half putting them back together in the operating theatre," he said in his autobiography published in 2007.

Somehow, he sustained parallel careers in a doctor's white coat and the red jersey of Wales with equal distinction.

When he forged a worldwide reputation for courage on the battlefield, JPR - he acquired the moniker in 1973 to distinguish him from Welsh team-mate John 'JJ' Williams - was a spectacular human being.