A former rugby correspondent who was once credited with picking the Welsh international XV has earned a place in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Bryn Thomas, usually known by his initials JBG, reported on the oval-ball game for the Cardiff-based Western Mail for more than 30 years.

Such was his influence in Welsh rugby circles that he was dubbed the “secret sixth member” of the five-man Welsh team selection panel.

On one occasion, his editor had to ask him to “make a few mistakes” with his predicted line-ups so readers would not think he was actually picking the side.

The 60-volume dictionary, first published in 1882, contains more than 55,000 biographies of people who shaped British history, literarature and culture.

An update published last week added thousands more names to the mighty tome, including that of ‘JBG’.

The son of a Pontypridd butcher, John Brinley George Thomas joined the Western Mail in 1946 as chief rugby writer and was assistant editor when he retired 36 years later.

Described as ‘Rugby’s Man of a Million Words,’ he published 28 books between 1954 and 1980 – including the classic Bryn Thomas’ Book of Rugger.

Said sports journalist Rob Cole: “The effect his writing was able to generate is best illustrated by the fact that his editor once told him to ‘make a few mistakes’ when predicting the Welsh team so that the readers of the Western Mail would not think it was he who picked the national side.”

Wales’ greatest-ever player Gareth Edwards added: “Like all young players who wanted to succeed in the game my first thought on a Monday morning was to open the paper and see what JBG had said.”

Read More on JBG Thomas at Wales Online