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.

RIP JPR, Barry, Phil and All of the other Welsh greats lost, love and respect you changed the game forever!! ❤❤❤

JJ never got enough credit. Pure speed and a great finisher.

"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 .

Gareth Edwards.. THE greatest rugby player of all time!

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.

JPR must've been the most dangerous doctor on the planet!!

And the marvelous voice of Cliff Morgan.. Another amazing player..

Fenwick MUST be the most underrated centre ever! I cannot remember him having a bad game

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

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.

I'm English but it was the Welsh teams of the 70's and the voice of Bill McLaren that got me into rugby.

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.

A great quote that I have not heard in a while ‘The Viet Gwent’

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.

Try scored ...pat on the back....walks away. How times have changed.

Welsh 70s greatest team ever

The 'First' golden era of Welsh rugby, surely.

1:01 - a tackle Norman “bits yer legs” Hunter would have been proud of

Legends all, what an absolutely fantastic era, and with Bill McLaren too. Sadly today Barry John passed.

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!

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!

what a tradedgy for the english! the voice of bill Mclaren is still dearly missed

I forgot how good Gerald Davies was.

Ah proper rugby instead of hybrid rugby league crap we have now

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

I love the comment "with the advent of coaching"

Absolutely magnificent. They don’t play rugby like that anymore.

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 !!!

What a team!

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.

Yes that team would bring rwc l remember watching Wales as kid at grumpa s House.

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

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 ......

Great team but the 2005/2008 team were legends and the start of a new golden era for sure

Edwards to Barry John ...I beg to ask where the best 3 quarter line ever there has been than that absolute class pair ! ?

does anyone have a ling for the doc this is taken from, many thx

2:07 before pontypridds pitch went to rubbish

Sport at it's very best

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

JPR should've given the ball to Denzil, in that game in Paris, and not to Gareth!!!

Wales is always on the top

Why can't they play like that now?

Wales has great players then

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

Anyone else here for some proper Rugby...? Not just Wales' hayday but Rugby's in general. What a shitshow it has become.

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.

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.

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 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿