Mike 'Oaktree' Knill was born 22nd December 1941 at Monkton, Pembrokeshire. After leaving Pembroke Grammar School he combined working at the local oil refineries with playing for Pembroke RFC. Mike moved to Cardiff at 19 to start a career with the Police Force, which he served in for 32 years, retiring in 2001. He resumed his rugby with Canton RFC playing as a flanker (and goal kicker) for couple of seasons, before joining Cardiff RFC where he played 212 games for the Blue and Blacks between 1967 and 1978 and gained a Welsh cap against France in 1976. He also made 12 appearances for the Barbarians between 1975-78 and later moved to Penarth RFC where he skippered them in their centenary season.

Mike was one of the most renowned scrummagers in Welsh rugby and highly respected by colleagues and opponents alike. He was a regular squad member for Wales and in 1976 when Graham Price left the field with a gouged eye injury, Mike came on as replacement to win his Wales cap in the Grand Slam-sealing 19-13 win over France.

‘Mike Knill came on for his only cap. It was great that he got it, because Mike was a terrific tighthead who deserved a stack of caps. He could lock a scrum up as well as Fran Cotton. I was talking to Gerard Cholley, the French prop, at the dinner and he paid Mike the biggest compliment of all. Cholley said “Whoever put Price off the field made a mistake, because the replacement was better.” (Ref. The Iron Duke:Bobby Windsor – The Life and Times of a Working-Class Hero – Publisher Random House, 2011).’