In memory of John Peter Rhys Williams, known as JPR to the rugby world. A brilliant player and competitor, and a rock of a man, who sadly left us in 2024.
The recently departed John Dawes said, rugby then was all about putting players into space, rugby now is all about looking for contact. How right he was, rugby was wonderful when it was spontaneous.
"Things were getting more difficult for Wales now. With the advent of coaching, other teams were starting to catch up." That's just amazing. The amateur game. What a time to be alive (and playing).
Strangely perhAps , but as a Scot , it was Barry John , JPR ,Edwards Fenwick and Bennet to a lesser extent that gave me a love of rugby . Barry John especially , so fluid and to my early teen eyes mesmerising as he ran ball in hand .
@@davidriggs1470are you referring to the late and high hit on the New Zealand Full Back Clive Currie, after he had taken the high Kick and called for the mark. That broke Curries Jaw and ended his tour.
The finest team to ever take the field of rugby, imagine the 75-76 team for Wales today, they’d surely bring the rwc back to wales, here’s hoping one day it will happen. This statement from an Englishman too
11:28 I’m A Scot, but, like so many, it was those Welsh teams which inspired my love of the game. Props playing 80 mins in deep mud with pouring rain, and the sheer brilliance of the backs. I miss the days of player’s finding space rather than contact, which can be just as boring as Rugby League for me. So sad to see Barry John go so soon after his colleagues.
A truly great era for Welsh rugby, with so many greats playing at the same time, but the downside was when these greats retired from international rugby, they all seemed to retire at the same time. a great shame. but a remarkable team that put the rest of the rugby playing world to shame.
Wales, most inspirational rugby team ever. There is no messing around. Wales were packed with talent in the 1970s and changed the dimension in international rugby since then with flair and sheer skill and a determination to win. Other nations saw this. Massively inspirational. A true, tough, rugby proud nation :)
What a fabulous piece of rugby by JPR there. He breaks away and he's got the legs but he can see he's likely to be tackled so he turns in and thereby takes the defence with him , only then does he offload to Edwards, instinctively knowing someone will be there and he's leaving them clear. The thing about Wales at that time wasn't only that they had a lot of players with exceptional talent but they had half a dozen players with exceptional vision and awareness on the pitch. JPR was one of them and that was also an amazing example of really great team play. I'm lucky to have been a young player growing up at that time having the privilege to watch that marvellous Welsh team play.
I’m an Englishman but I loved watching the Welsh team play in the 1970s. One of our only exciting players was Dai Duckham. Fast forward to the current day and I’m watching England going out results in the WC. Don’t they realise sport is meant to be entertainment. I’d rather watch paint dry.
What a wonderful player Duckham was and seemed a lovely guy too.I think he relished playing with the Lions as his creativity and rugby brain was allowed to flourish with the other geniuses around him .I used to love watching him go off on one of his runs.Yes! We certainly called him Dai here in Wales.❤
Gerald Davies was my hero. I used to go to watch London Welsh from 1968-71 after playing rugby for my school in the morning (senior rugby played in the afternoon meant that watching LW stopped.). Gerald's acceleration and sidestep were something to behold and made the crowd gasp. @@TheLRider
Great era for Welsh rugby which included players from unfashionable valley's clubs like Pontypool, Ebbw Vale etc The WRUination have since 2003 found an answer to that problem ie "regional" rugby!
Robert Roberts how do you imagine the clubs would compete nowadays you fucking idiot. Regional rugby is the only way wales can survive in professional rugby.
I never begrudged them their wins against England because they were such a good side bit I was always a bit miffed when disguised as London Welsh they cleaned up at the Middlesex Sevens !!!
Ah! Happy days! London Welsh used to get booed by the crowd at the Middx Sevens, especially when playing Harlequins. It was a golden era, for sure. JPR (who played prop in the 7s), John Dawes, Mervyn Davies, John Taylor, Gerald Davies, Andy Gray, and I can't remember who played scrum half - probably Billy Hullin (I've got 30 years of programmes somewhere for the Middx 7s from 1968!!!....).
Just look at when Edwards made the break against Scotland from the back of the scrum ,he changed hands with the ball that can't be taught and very difficult while on a break
You are so right Michael, it was spontaneous and unpredictable in those days, with teams willing to attack, now its very dull and defensively minded, and no longer the entertainment it once was.
This was rugby at its best.... and I am English. Scrums were fast and even with no feeding, hookers hooked and didn't throw in at line outs. There were not 34 phases of play with forwards gaining 6 inches a go. It was, as you can tell, Fiji sevens all the time. The Welsh had THE team but all 5 nations at that time played rugby much the same. If you caught France on a good day you could say goodbye to the grand slam. Something bad happened as a result of professional rugby. It's a shame. Almost as much a shame as Britian has forgotten that Assoaciation Football is actually called soccer. Listen to the audio. I am not going senile remembering that, as a someone from Yorkshire, you had to separate a rugby ball from a soccer ball.
If the Springboks had toured Britain in 1978 Wales v South Africa would have been the unofficial World Championship with the Springboks having beaten the All Blacks in 1976
Great welsh team, but they could not beat the All Blacks during the seventies 1972 NZ 19-16, 1974 the unofficial test 12-3, 1978 13-12. But full credit to Llanelli on that win in 1972, about equal to Northland beating Wales in 1988
I just hate it, when the Western Mail, , refer to the current Wales Rugby players, as Legends of the game. None of them could play to the same level or standard as Gareth, Barry, JPR, Phil, Mervyn, Derek, JJ, and Gerald and the rest of the 70s team They are the Legends of the game, and im proud to say, i can remember those exciting times at the Arms Park, where every visiting nation, even the mighty All Blacks were for the taking. When did Wales last beat the All Blacks, or come anywhere near close to beating them. ? I rest my case.
The last time Wales beat the All blacks was 1953, so before the great team of the 1970s. Albeit Welsh players heavily contributed to successful lions and Barbarians sides that did beat the All Blacks. From 2005-19, there were definitely a raft of Welsh legends from 1-15. GJenkins, A Jones, AW Jones, M Williams, R Jones, Warburton, Tipuric, Faletau, Phillips, Roberts, J Davies, S Williams, North, Halfpenny. Multiple GS/championship winners and RWC semi-finalists. Are they better players than those of the 70s? Maybe not. But they'll still go down in Welsh rugby folklore as legends in their own right.
james pasifull if Wilson has closed the mines down completely in the 60s thousands of miners and hundreds of mines wouldn’t have remained in work and open until Thatcher went to war with the unions and working class community’s. No need for google. - lived through it!
@@willie5958 He did close MORE in the 60's than Thatcher did in the 80's, & that IS a fact! I lived through it too, & I remember the wasters who pissed their redundancy money up the wall, just so they could carry on bitching about a 'ruined life'!
rugby is unwatchable now compared to this style of play. The game will never be a great spectacle unless world rugby learns from this example of playing.
Foward passing was ok then,play away,alot of these trys would not be awarded today for one thing or another. Players had alot more time on the ball then .
In memory of John Peter Rhys Williams, known as JPR to the rugby world.
A brilliant player and competitor, and a rock of a man, who sadly left us in 2024.
The recently departed John Dawes said, rugby then was all about putting players into space, rugby now is all about looking for contact. How right he was, rugby was wonderful when it was spontaneous.
JJ never got enough credit. Pure speed and a great finisher.
RIP JPR, Barry, Phil and All of the other Welsh greats lost, love and respect you changed the game forever!! ❤❤❤
"Things were getting more difficult for Wales now. With the advent of coaching, other teams were starting to catch up."
That's just amazing. The amateur game. What a time to be alive (and playing).
I'm and Englishman but I hear the names in that team called out and I get tingles. What a team that was, incredible.
Strangely perhAps , but as a Scot , it was Barry John , JPR ,Edwards Fenwick and Bennet to a lesser extent that gave me a love of rugby . Barry John especially , so fluid and to my early teen eyes mesmerising as he ran ball in hand .
JPR must've been the most dangerous doctor on the planet!!
Gareth Edwards.. THE greatest rugby player of all time!
Fenwick MUST be the most underrated centre ever! I cannot remember him having a bad game
He was so damn good . Saw him walking around in Newport about '80 - '81.....Thighs like tree trunks.
What a player,could do everything,his tackle on a New Zealander in the ‘jumping out of the line’ match was something.
@@davidriggs1470are you referring to the late and high hit on the New Zealand Full Back Clive Currie, after he had taken the high Kick and called for the mark. That broke Curries Jaw and ended his tour.
The finest team to ever take the field of rugby, imagine the 75-76 team for Wales today, they’d surely bring the rwc back to wales, here’s hoping one day it will happen. This statement from an Englishman too
They'd make The All Blacks look like Schoolboys and that's coming from a Scot
Lot of respect for you two, from a Welshman.
They couldn't even beat New Zeland back then, play a modern team now, Any Tier 1 nation they'd get knocked for 100+
Awwww shut up ffs!! 🙄!!!
Even Welsh club teams could defeat New Zeeland in the 70's
11:28 I’m A Scot, but, like so many, it was those Welsh teams which inspired my love of the game. Props playing 80 mins in deep mud with pouring rain, and the sheer brilliance of the backs. I miss the days of player’s finding space rather than contact, which can be just as boring as Rugby League for me. So sad to see Barry John go so soon after his colleagues.
I'm English but it was the Welsh teams of the 70's and the voice of Bill McLaren that got me into rugby.
‘They say down Stradey Park way that if you ever catch him you get to make a wish’ ! McClaren really was the voice of rugby.
A great quote that I have not heard in a while ‘The Viet Gwent’
And the marvelous voice of Cliff Morgan.. Another amazing player..
A truly great era for Welsh rugby, with so many greats playing at the same time, but the downside was when these greats retired from international rugby, they all seemed to retire at the same time. a great shame. but a remarkable team that put the rest of the rugby playing world to shame.
Welsh 70s greatest team ever
chanctonbury63 has c
Wales, most inspirational rugby team ever. There is no messing around. Wales were packed with talent in the 1970s and changed the dimension in international rugby since then with flair and sheer skill and a determination to win. Other nations saw this. Massively inspirational. A true, tough, rugby proud nation :)
What a fabulous piece of rugby by JPR there. He breaks away and he's got the legs but he can see he's likely to be tackled so he turns in and thereby takes the defence with him , only then does he offload to Edwards, instinctively knowing someone will be there and he's leaving them clear. The thing about Wales at that time wasn't only that they had a lot of players with exceptional talent but they had half a dozen players with exceptional vision and awareness on the pitch. JPR was one of them and that was also an amazing example of really great team play. I'm lucky to have been a young player growing up at that time having the privilege to watch that marvellous Welsh team play.
Thought JPR would live forever
I’m an Englishman but I loved watching the Welsh team play in the 1970s. One of our only exciting players was Dai Duckham. Fast forward to the current day and I’m watching England going out results in the WC. Don’t they realise sport is meant to be entertainment. I’d rather watch paint dry.
What a wonderful player Duckham was and seemed a lovely guy too.I think he relished playing with the Lions as his creativity and rugby brain was allowed to flourish with the other geniuses around him .I used to love watching him go off on one of his runs.Yes! We certainly called him Dai here in Wales.❤
Try scored ...pat on the back....walks away. How times have changed.
1:01 - a tackle Norman “bits yer legs” Hunter would have been proud of
The 'First' golden era of Welsh rugby, surely.
That Edward's try,every single time l watch it hairs on my neck/goosebumps,every time and l am English,those Welsh sides of that period the best EVER!
Ah proper rugby instead of hybrid rugby league crap we have now
Union still exists.
Well said its sh,t now
Legends all, what an absolutely fantastic era, and with Bill McLaren too. Sadly today Barry John passed.
I forgot how good Gerald Davies was.
The forerunner of Shane Williams. One Being amateur of course. Absolutely loved to see him play.
Gerald Davies was my hero. I used to go to watch London Welsh from 1968-71 after playing rugby for my school in the morning (senior rugby played in the afternoon meant that watching LW stopped.). Gerald's acceleration and sidestep were something to behold and made the crowd gasp. @@TheLRider
Pas une ride. Des joueurs habités par le " génie rugby". Quelle génération!
Great era for Welsh rugby which included players from unfashionable valley's clubs like Pontypool, Ebbw Vale etc The WRUination have since 2003 found an answer to that problem ie "regional" rugby!
Robert Roberts how do you imagine the clubs would compete nowadays you fucking idiot. Regional rugby is the only way wales can survive in professional rugby.
@@Ceidonianphysicist the man who implemented has admitted it has been a complete failure. Your logic is badly flawed.
What a team!
I never begrudged them their wins against England because they were such a good side bit I was always a bit miffed when disguised as London Welsh they cleaned up at the Middlesex Sevens !!!
Ah! Happy days! London Welsh used to get booed by the crowd at the Middx Sevens, especially when playing Harlequins. It was a golden era, for sure. JPR (who played prop in the 7s), John Dawes, Mervyn Davies, John Taylor, Gerald Davies, Andy Gray, and I can't remember who played scrum half - probably Billy Hullin (I've got 30 years of programmes somewhere for the Middx 7s from 1968!!!....).
@@johnf991 Yes. They were great days ! And as for the announcer….! My first was in 1972.
Just look at when Edwards made the break against Scotland from the back of the scrum ,he changed hands with the ball that can't be taught and very difficult while on a break
what a tradedgy for the english! the voice of bill Mclaren is still dearly missed
I love the comment "with the advent of coaching"
Absolutely magnificent. They don’t play rugby like that anymore.
You are so right Michael, it was spontaneous and unpredictable in those days, with teams willing to attack, now its very dull and defensively minded, and no longer the entertainment it once was.
Great team but the 2005/2008 team were legends and the start of a new golden era for sure
Sport at it's very best
Ah - the Viet Gwent - set it all up from the Front. Just look how quick the scrums formed in the day. Mind you high tackles etc ......
Yes that team would bring rwc l remember watching Wales as kid at grumpa s House.
does anyone have a ling for the doc this is taken from, many thx
This was rugby at its best.... and I am English. Scrums were fast and even with no feeding, hookers hooked and didn't throw in at line outs. There were not 34 phases of play with forwards gaining 6 inches a go. It was, as you can tell, Fiji sevens all the time. The Welsh had THE team but all 5 nations at that time played rugby much the same. If you caught France on a good day you could say goodbye to the grand slam. Something bad happened as a result of professional rugby. It's a shame. Almost as much a shame as Britian has forgotten that Assoaciation Football is actually called soccer. Listen to the audio. I am not going senile remembering that, as a someone from Yorkshire, you had to separate a rugby ball from a soccer ball.
If the Springboks had toured Britain in 1978 Wales v South Africa would have been the unofficial World Championship with the Springboks having beaten the All Blacks in 1976
2:07 before pontypridds pitch went to rubbish
Edwards to Barry John ...I beg to ask where the best 3 quarter line ever there has been than that absolute class pair ! ?
Edwards, John, JPR, Gerald Davies, Bennett, Mervyn Davies and Graham Price all among the greatest
That Wales team of the seventies were the greatest. So many great players, free flowing rugby.
@@mizofan You forgot Dai !!
I think the best backline was the 1971 lions, brilliant attacking players with superb tactical thinkers like Dawes and Gibson in the centre.
Also very rarely done then and in the modern game
Rugby at its best now just a bunch of monsters mauling up the field
Jon pullin
Wales is always on the top
JPR should've given the ball to Denzil, in that game in Paris, and not to Gareth!!!
Wales has great players then
Anyone else here for some proper Rugby...? Not just Wales' hayday but Rugby's in general. What a shitshow it has become.
Played for 25 years, the game now is a game I do not recognise,
Why can't they play like that now?
Great welsh team, but they could not beat the All Blacks during the seventies
1972 NZ 19-16, 1974 the unofficial test 12-3, 1978 13-12.
But full credit to Llanelli on that win in 1972, about equal to Northland beating Wales in 1988
I just hate it, when the Western Mail, , refer to the current Wales Rugby players, as Legends of the game.
None of them could play to the same level or standard as Gareth, Barry, JPR, Phil, Mervyn, Derek, JJ, and Gerald and the rest of the 70s team
They are the Legends of the game, and im proud to say, i can remember those exciting times at the Arms Park, where every visiting nation, even the mighty All Blacks were for the taking.
When did Wales last beat the All Blacks, or come anywhere near close to beating them. ?
I rest my case.
The last time Wales beat the All blacks was 1953, so before the great team of the 1970s. Albeit Welsh players heavily contributed to successful lions and Barbarians sides that did beat the All Blacks.
From 2005-19, there were definitely a raft of Welsh legends from 1-15. GJenkins, A Jones, AW Jones, M Williams, R Jones, Warburton, Tipuric, Faletau, Phillips, Roberts, J Davies, S Williams, North, Halfpenny. Multiple GS/championship winners and RWC semi-finalists.
Are they better players than those of the 70s? Maybe not. But they'll still go down in Welsh rugby folklore as legends in their own right.
Seems to have misspoke when he said that the strike closed the welsh mines down forever. Thatcher of course done that. Arthur was right enough.
And there's me thinking it was Wilson in the 60's!
Google!
james pasifull if Wilson has closed the mines down completely in the 60s thousands of miners and hundreds of mines wouldn’t have remained in work and open until Thatcher went to war with the unions and working class community’s. No need for google. - lived through it!
@@willie5958
He did close MORE in the 60's than Thatcher did in the 80's, & that IS a fact!
I lived through it too, & I remember the wasters who pissed their redundancy money up the wall, just so they could carry on bitching about a 'ruined life'!
England had a Golden era in the 90s but of course that is not celebrated. 3 Grand slams.
rugby is unwatchable now compared to this style of play. The game will never be a great spectacle unless world rugby learns from this example of playing.
Foward passing was ok then,play away,alot of these trys would not be awarded today for one thing or another.
Players had alot more time on the ball then .
Let's get the outside half factory going again 🏴 greatest team ever in rugby when they played you knew it was going to be special 🏴