EBBW Vale stalwart Horace Matthews has paid tribute to the late David Nash by describing him as “supreme in everything he did” and a player who was ahead of his time.

The death of the former Ebbw back row forward, the first coach of the Wales national team, at the age of 77 was announced last weekend.

A minute’s silence was held before the Steelmen’s Principality Premiership match with Llandovery at Eugene Cross Park, the ground Nash graced with distinction.

Nash, who also played for Cardiff College of Education, Crumlin, Monmouthshire and the Barbarians, won six Welsh caps and toured South Africa with the British & Irish Lions in 1962.

Matthews, now 91 and living in Cwm, remembers Nash with great fondness, both on and off the pitch.

“He was a great forward,” said Matthews, a former Ebbw forward himself and committee member for more than 20 years. “In fact, I would say he was the greatest forward I saw during all the years I was on the committee.

“He was tall and muscular, he could run with the ball and pass the ball. He had everything you looked for in a rugby player. He was exceptional.

“David was one of those players who was supreme in everything he did. I’d finished playing by the time he came to the club but I would've loved to have play alongside him.

“He always stood out and was such a natural player.”

He added: "He was a true gentleman. He was very quietly spoken and never showed any aggression to anyone."

Nash was born in Markham on July 15, 1939 and attended Hafod-y-Ddol Grammar School in Nantyglo, while he was capped twice by the Welsh Secondary Schools.

He joined Ebbw after graduating from Cardiff Training College and made his Wales debut in a 3-0 loss to South Africa in 1960.

A place on the Lions tour two years later followed but an illness picked up during his time away cut short his playing career.

However, in 1967 the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) appointed Nash as Wales’ first honorary national coach.

Nash was given the job for a season but resigned when the WRU decided not to take the national coach on the 1968 tour of Argentina.

The decision was eventually reversed and Clive Rowlands was chosen by the union to travel with the team.

After rugby, Nash, having qualified as a school teacher from his days at Cyncoed, went on to become the first director of leisure at Blaenau Gwent Borough Council.