By Jason Cave
June 22nd 2008 @ 5:54am
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Barbarians v All Blacks: the greatest match ever
The 1973 match at Cardiff Arms Park between the Barbarians, featuring J.P.R.Williams, Barry John, and Gareth Edwards, and the All Blacks, featuring Sid Going, has been described as one of the greatest games ever played.
This is largely thanks to ‘that try’ scored by the immortal Gareth Edwards.
But it really was a game of full-on attacking rugby.
Here’s how Cliff Morgan who called the game for BBC Wales saw it:
“Kirkpatrick to Williams. This is great stuff! Phil Bennett chased by Alastair Scown. Brilliant, oh that’s brilliant! John Williams. Pullin. John Dawes, great dummy.
To David, Tom David, the halfway line! Brilliant by Quinnell! To Gareth Edwards! A dramatic start! What a score!”
Never a try was better scored, whether in league or union, than the one done by Gareth Edwards. Nor was it better called than the description of Edwards’ unforgettable try, than by the legendary Cliff Morgan.
It was free-flowing rugby with excellent tries by the Barbarians and All Blacks and equally tough defence by both sides as well.
Even though the final score was a 23-11 win to the Barbarians (in today’s revised scoring system, it would’ve been a 27-13 win to the Baa Baas’ as well), no one would ever forget this match.
SCORES
BARBARIANS 23 (Tries: G.O.Edwards, J.F.Slattery, J.C.Bevan, J.P.R. Williams. Conversions: P.Bennett (2) Penalties: P.Bennett)
ALL BLACKS 11 (Tries: G.B.Batty (2). Penalty J.F.Karam)
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JohnB said | June 23rd 2008 @ 3:08pm | Report comment
Barry John didn’t play that game.
Great try and all, and no doubt there was a lot of other attack during the game, but at the end of the day it was a Barbarians game which to my mind disqualifies it from any “greatest ever” list. Australia played a couple of terrific games against the Barbarians in the 1980s, and a Campese try in one of them was an exhibition of individual brilliance which can’t often have been surpassed and stands up very well against the Edwards try – but no-one suggests they were the greatest games ever, and rightly so, because these games are a glorified exhibition (and, in the case of British journalists, because the Barbarians lost).
Give me All Blacks 39, Aust 35 in 1990 any day.
ohtani's jacket said | June 24th 2008 @ 12:55am | Report comment
Is it just me or is that last pass to Edwards blatantly forward? Beautiful try, though.
Steffy said | June 24th 2008 @ 1:20am | Report comment
“Never a try was better scored, whether in league or union”
I’ve seen plenty in rugby league.
sheek said | June 24th 2008 @ 9:46am | Report comment
It was a great game, & shows how good union is when played like that. The pity is that those kind of games are few & far between.
As for the try, yes, plenty of great tries scored in both rugby codes over the years.
What makes a great game is often very subjective, & therefore a personal choice. This match is up there, but I think there are plenty of other games that come close.
Dublin Dave said | June 25th 2008 @ 12:23am | Report comment
Call me a repetitive curmudgeonly smart arse (I’m sure you will) but all I want to ask is: what version of rugby’s frequently changing laws was this game played under?
Don’t even bother replying. Just think about it.
PS
I have seen that try so often that I used to be able to recite Cliff Morgan’s commentary backwards. Although I haven’t done so for many years. Student humour, eh?
stuff happens said | June 25th 2008 @ 3:13pm | Report comment
Ah memories! A great try in a marvellous match that I suspect will be shown as long as rugby is played.One thing that I noticed when I watched the game again a few years ago is that although the modern player is far more powerful physically, the skills of the players have not improved even with a much easier ball to handle.Why is this?
Did any outside half ever have as good a step as Phil Bennett? Also, David Duckham the English wing was a revelation to me.
Far from being exhibition matches ,in those days when tours were less frequent and longer the Barbarians game was keenly contested and an attempt was made to pick the best British and Irish team.I think this was the first time the Barbarians had beaten the All Blacks since the second World War.
Mervyn Davies the Welsh No 8 pulled out of the game at the last minute and was replaced by a fiery flanker from Pontypridd called Tommy David.He and Grant Batty ( one of his tries was a classic) had a similar temperament and introduced themselves to each other a couple of times that afternoon!
Thanks Jason.
Jerry said | June 25th 2008 @ 3:18pm | Report comment
Stuff Happens – Well, it’s all in the eye of the beholder, but I reckon the skills of modern players are a huge step up. The game is played at a far quicker pace these days meaning players have far less time to react and execute – no backline in the 1970’s had to contend with a rush style defence for instance.
stuff happens said | June 25th 2008 @ 3:27pm | Report comment
You may be right Jerry.
I noticed a couple of head tackles on JPR that would have stopped the game today. John Ashworth tried a different approach!
Also crash tackles were still legal then ( I think).
Jason Cave said | December 10th 2008 @ 8:24pm | Report comment
Also what you must remember is that the majority of the Barbarians team that day came from the 1971 British & Irish Lions side that drew the tests 2-2 with the All Blacks on their tour to NZ two years before. Interestingly, Cliff Morgan (who called the game that day) wasn’t supposed to be commentating the game. Morgan was a late replacement for Scottish commentator Bill McLaren who withdrew from the game due to illness.
Dublin Dave said | December 10th 2008 @ 10:02pm | Report comment
Whoah!!!! Hold it right there Mr Orwell. Whaddya mean “the Lions team that drew the 1971 Test Series against the All Blacks”? The Lions actually WON that series. They win precious few test series in NZ and SA and almost never in New Zealand. In fact, I think that was the only series win there since “Lions” tours began. So if you must rewrite history, please don’t get that rare and precious fact wrong.
Although you are right to say that the bulk of the Barbarians team was made up of the SUCESSFUL Lions squad of the previous season. At that time, it was unheard of to ask a player from outside the Four Home Unions to play for the Barbarians against a touring SH side. Although there was a tradition, upheld in that game, of playing non capped players along with as many of the elite as they could muster.
In fact, of the 15 players on the Barbarians team that day nine of them had played in one or all of the tests on the tour against New Zealand the previous year, but even then, that doesn’t tell the full story.
The Barbarians props were Ray McLoughlin and Sandy Carmichael, who would both have been the first choice test players in New Zealand had they been fit. However, a week before the first test they had both played in the notorious match against Canterbury which was more of a dockyard brawl than a rugby match. Carmichael had his lights punched out so often that he couldn’t see out of either eye and one of his cheekbones was shattered; McLoughlin, by contrast, suffered a broken finger while retaliating with more anger than skill. Both were invalided of the tour.
Fergus Slattery, the Barbarians flanker that day, had been selected for the last test on the tour but had to cry off through illness. The rest of the Barbarians pack was made up of three test stalwarts from the tour–Willie John McBride at lock, John Pullin at hooker and Derek Quinnell at number eight–and two players uncapped at the time, Tom David on the flank and Wilkinson at lock.
The backline was a closer approximation to the Lions test side. Two notable absentees were the by-then retired Barry John at fly half and Gerald Davies on the wing. John’s replacement Phil Bennett was perhaps an even better runner than John had been and both the wingers who did play, David Duckham and John Bevan had been test players in New Zealand. The other four Barbarians backs Gareth Edwards at scrum half, Mike Gibson and John Dawes in the centre and JPR Williams at full back had all occupied those same positions in all four tests in New Zealand.
So nine players who did play tests on tour against New Zealand and another three that would have done if fit. Followed by yet another (Bennett) who went on two Lions tours and captained one of them. Not a bad scratch team at all.
pothale said | December 11th 2008 @ 4:16am | Report comment
Jaysis Dublin Dave – having that level of detail and recall is kinda worrying. Do you get out at all? Or just chew encyclopedias for fun?
Dublin Dave said | December 11th 2008 @ 7:07pm | Report comment
Pothale
I only do it so you don’t have to.
Actually, the truth is I was 12 years old at the time and full of the obsession with a sport that many kids at that age have. I can tell you without looking it up the results, and usually the scorers of every Irish international match between 1969 and about 1973-74. I would struggle even to tell you who won the corresponding matches in recent years. That’s what old age does for you.