Ian Welch - Greatest Moments of Rugby

GREATEST MOMENTS OF

RUGBY

First published in the UK in 2007

G2 Rights 2014

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ISBN 978-1-782812-62-3
eISBN 978-1-782819-75-2

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While the British Lions had registered two previous victories over the New Zealand All Blacks 6-3 in June 1930 and 9-6 in September 1959 the 34-man squad that ventured to the southern hemisphere in 1971 was to surpass all expectations.

Although combined British and Irish teams had participated in unofficial tours of Australia and New Zealand since 1888, it was not until 1930 that the Lions officially engaged the All Blacks on their home turf. The first Lions tour with players selected from all four Home Nations took place in South Africa in 1910 but it was not until the inter-war years that the team became known as the Lions, so named after the crest on their jerseys.

Coach Carwyn James built the core of the team around the backbone of the Wales side that had won that years Five Nations Grand Slam with John Dawes, JPR Williams, Gerald Davies, Mike Gibson, Gareth Edwards and Barry John appearing in all four Tests. In total, 14 Welshmen were selected for the squad, with eight from England and six each from Scotland and Ireland.

In the early stages of the first Test in Dunedin, scrum-half Gareth Edwards limped off to be replaced by fellow Welshman Ray Chico Hopkins who went on to play out of his skin. The first points of the game came when the Lions won a line-out and the ball eventually found its way into the hands of John Bevan, who crashed through the New Zealand defence before spilling the ball. When Alan Sutherland attempted to clear his line, Scottish loosehead prop Ian Mighty Mouse McLaughlan was there to charge the ball down and claim a try for the visitors. Although fly-half Barry John failed with the conversion, it was his kicking that kept the tourists in the game. As well as helping relieve the pressure on his defence with quality balls down the line, he successfully kicked two penalties to give the Lions a 9-3 victory after full-back Fergie McCormick had equalised for New Zealand with another penalty kick.

The second Test, a fortnight later, saw the All Blacks gain revenge for the opening defeat with a 22-12 triumph although the Lions scored a classic try when full-back JPR Williams collected a high New Zealand clearance deep in his own half. Immediately launching a counterattack, Williams found Gibson in support who in turn laid the ball off to Gerald Davies. The winger sprinted 25 yards to the line to round off a textbook manoeuvre. Not to be outdone, the All Blacks flanker Ian Kirkpatrick broke from a maul near the half-way line and pounded his way to the line, evading all attempts to stop him.

Winning the toss at the start of the third Test in Wellington, the Lions decided to play with the wind in the first half and that would prove to be an inspired decision. Within minutes, the Lions turned over the All Blacks who had won a line-out near their goal-line and Gerald Davies scored the first try of the game. Minutes later, a line-out in nearly the same position on the right wing was palmed down by John Taylor into the path of Gareth Edwards. He jinked past a couple of New Zealand challenges before handing the ball to Barry John for an easy try by the post. With John converting the two tries and adding a drop goal, the score at the end of the first half stood at 13-0 to the Lions. In the second half, the Lions restricted the All Blacks to one try, scored by full-back Laurie Mains. This victory meant that the Lions could not now lose the series and had everything to play for in the fourth and final Test.

Things started well for the All Blacks in Auckland when Wayne Cottrell powered over the line to score the first try of the game. Main successfully kicked the conversion and added a penalty to give the home side an 8-0 lead. But the Lions were not out of the contest and flanker Peter Dixon reduced the deficit, scoring a try just before half-time with Barry John restoring parity with the conversion and a penalty by the interval.

Shortly after the game had restarted, John gave the visitors the lead with another penalty before Tom Lister scored the All Blacks second try to level the scores at 11 apiece. It was full-back JPR Williams who stunned the watching world when he attempted a drop goal from just inside his opponents half. The 45-yard kick flew straight between the posts and for the last 25 minutes the Lions were forced to defend against the All Black tide. As it turned out, the only score they could add was a Mains penalty to level at 14-14 and the visitors rejoiced at the end of the match, having won the series 2-1.

It is hard enough for an international side to beat the mighty All Blacks, let alone a club side. So when Welsh club Llanelli took on New Zealand on 31 October 1972, few were predicting that the visitors would do anything other than emerge victorious.

New Zealand had recently registered a hat-trick of wins over a touring Australia side and hadnt lost a match on tour since they were beaten 17-20 by South Africa in Johannesburg more than two years previously. Indeed, their 1972 tour of North America, the British Isles and France had got off to a spectacular start with convincing victories over British Columbia (31-3), New York Metropolitan (41-9) and Western Counties (39-12).

Llanelli were coached by Carwyn James, their former fly-half and the man who had masterminded the British Lions successful tour of New Zealand the previous year. James, born the son of a coalminer in 1929, was a Welsh international who had played two games for his country in 1958 but who would undoubtedly have won more caps if Cliff Morgan hadnt been the resident fly-half. James was a strong believer in the old adage that attack is the best form of defence and he instilled an attitude in his teams that once they got hold of the ball they should go on the offensive. Off the field, James stood as a Plaid Cymru candidate in Llanelli in the 1970 General Election and the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year Award has since been named in his honour.

With a 1967 victory against Australia already under their belt, Llanelli welcomed a crowd of more than 20,000 to Stradey Park a stadium that will be covered with 400 houses after 2007 to witness what would turn out to be a Halloween spectacular. It seemed as if the whole town had shut down for the afternoon.

The team line-up that day was: Roger Davies, John J Williams, Roy Bergiers, Ray Gravell, Andy Hill, Phil Bennett, Chico Hopkins, Tony Crocker, Roy Thomas, Barry Llewellyn, Delme Thomas, Derek Quinnell, Tom David, Hefin Jenkins and Gareth Jenkins.