Barbarians vs New Zealand, 1973

Barbarians v New Zealand was a 1973 rugby union match between the Barbarians and New Zealand. It was played as part of the 1972–73 New Zealand tour of Britain, Ireland, France and North America. The game is considered to be one of the best rugby union matches ever played;[1] it featured what has been described as "the greatest try ever", scored by Gareth Edwards.[2][3] The Barbarians won the game 23–11.[4] It was also the first time New Zealand lost to the Barbarians.

Barbarians v New Zealand
Event1972–73 New Zealand rugby union tour
Barbarians New Zealand
23 11
Date27 January 1973
VenueNational Stadium, Cardiff
RefereeGeorges Domercq (France)

The greatest try ever scored

In the second minute of the game New Zealand winger Bryan Williams kicked the ball over the head of Phil Bennett, who ran back to pick it up near his goal line. With nearly the entire length of the field between him and the New Zealand goal line, Bennett started upfield by sidestepping and evading three tackles, in turn passing the ball to JPR Williams, who managed to offload the ball after Bryan Williams had tackled him around the neck. Still deep in the Barbarians' end of the field, the ball then passed through four pairs of Barbarian hands (Pullin, Dawes, David and Quinnell) heading upfield before Edwards, slipping between two team-mates and seemingly intercepting the last pass, finished with a diving try in the left-hand corner, 22 seconds after Bennett picked up the ball.

Barbarians coach Carwyn James is credited with man management to stimulate Bennett to make sidestepping runs that day.[5]

The game is one I will never forget and those of us who played in it will never be allowed to forget. It is a match that will live with me forever. People tend only to remember the first four minutes of the game because of the try, but what they forgot is the great deal of good rugby played afterwards, much of which came from the All Blacks. After the success of the 1971 Lions tour, which captured the imagination of the whole country, it was an opportunity to bring a lot of that side together again.

Gareth Edwards

Commentary

The commentary itself is sometimes described as the greatest ever, although it very nearly didn't happen because until just 2 hours before the match Bill McLaren was due to commentate; but he was recovering from 'flu so Cliff Morgan was called in at the last minute.[6] Morgan commentated the try:

Kirkpatrick to Williams. This is great stuff. Phil Bennett covering. Chased by Alistair Scown. Brilliant! Oh, that's brilliant! John Williams, Bryan Williams. Pullin. John Dawes, great dummy. To David, Tom David, the half-way line! Brilliant by Quinnell! This is Gareth Edwards! A dramatic start! What a score! Oh, that fellow Edwards!

A moment later, at the restart, he added,

If the greatest writer of the written word would have written that story, no one would have believed it. That really was something.

Poll standings

Often known simply as "that try",[7] the try is frequently mentioned as the greatest ever scored[8] or one of the greatest.[9] In a UK poll conducted by Channel 4 in 2002, Edwards's try was voted number 20 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.[10] The 40th anniversary of the try sparked renewed interest.[11]

Other play

The Barbarians had tries nearly scored by John Bevan and then John Dawes. David Duckham showed his skills in possibly his best UK performance, before more tries were scored by Fergus Slattery and John Bevan to make the halftime score 17-0. Grant Batty scored two tries in reply before JPR Williams completed the try-scoring.

Teams
27 January 1973
Barbarians 23–11  New Zealand
Edwards (4 – 1t)
Slattery (4 – 1t)
Bevan (4 – 1t)
Williams (4 – 1t)
Bennett (7 – 2c, 1pg)		 Report (8 – 2t) Batty
(3 – 1pg) Karam
National Stadium, Cardiff
Referee: G. Domercq (FFR)
FB15 J.P.R. Williams
RW14 David Duckham
OC13 John Dawes (c)
IC12 Mike Gibson
LW11 John Bevan
FH10 Phil Bennett
SH9 Gareth Edwards
LP1 Ray McLoughlin
HK2 John Pullin
TP3 Sandy Carmichael
LL4 Willie John McBride
RL5 Bob Wilkinson
BF6 Tom David
OF7 Fergus Slattery
N88 Derek Quinnell
FB15Joe Karam
RW14Bryan Williams
OC13Bruce Robertson
IC12Ian Hurst
LW11Grant Batty
FH10Bob Burgess
SH9Sid Going
LP1Graham Whiting
HK2Ron Urlich
TP3Kent Lambert
LL4Peter Whiting
RL5Hamish Macdonald
BF6Alistair Scown
OF7Ian Kirkpatrick (c)
N88Alex Wyllie

The Barbarians coach was Carwyn James, who was always noted as seeking to encourage his teams to play attacking rugby.

References
  1. "My favourite game: Gareth Edwards and the Baa-Baas stun All Blacks". The Guardian. 15 May 2020.
  2. "The greatest try ever scored?". BBC. 26 January 2013.
  3. Gallagher, Brendan (4 December 2009). "Barbarians v New Zealand '73 - the greatest try of them all". Daily Telegraph.
  4. "International Matches". Barbarianfc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 13 February 2010.
  5. https://therugbymagazine.com/british-irish-lions/carwyn-james-the-greatest-coach-wales-never-had
  6. Gallagher, Brendan (3 December 2009). "Barbarians v New Zealand: the greatest commentary that never was". Daily Telegraph.
  7. bbc.com
  8. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/21205137
  9. https://intheloose.com/2014/03/29/5-greatest-tries-time/
  10. "100 Greatest Sporting Moments - Results". Channel 4. 2002. Archived from the original on 15 January 2002.
  11. Morgan, Cliff (25 January 2013). "Cliff Morgan salutes 'greatest try' when Gareth Edwards scored for Barbarians against All Blacks in 1973". Daily Telegraph.
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