JPR: MOST FEARLESS, MOST POSITIVE MAN I KNEW.. I THOUGHT HE WAS INDESTRUCTIBLE
BRAVE, to the point of reckless disregard for his own safety, JPR Williams – a player so good just his initials were sufficient identity – flung himself in harm’s way.
Scotland winger Billy Steel, trying to hurdle the tackle, caught the last line of defence in the face with his knee, and the great Wales full-back was forced to retire hurt with a fractured cheekbone.
To widespread astonishment, Williams reappeared at the post-match dinner four hours later, chewing defiantly on his steak even when every mouthful must have been an ordeal by cement-mixer.
It was one of half a dozen serious facial injuries ‘JPR’ sustained (above, top, hurt playing for Wales in 1975) in a golden age for Welsh rugby.
By far the most gruesome was his collection of 30 stitches after being stamped on and raked at the base of a ruck while captaining Bridgend in a tour match against the All Blacks (above, circle).
After being pieced back together, he rejoined the fray and delivered the beaten captain’s speech at dinner with blood still trickling down his face.
“JPR was the most fearless and the most positive animal I’ve ever met,” John Taylor, his former London Welsh, Wales and British & Irish Lions team-mate (above, the pair in Lions action in 1971), said.
“There were times when he appeared indestructible. But he was also instrumental in the way we played the game.
“As a full-back, he changed rugby because he preferred the ball in his hands, not disappearing into the far yonder from his big boot.”
Taylor’s poignant tribute to Williams, in a week when rugby said farewell to one of the all-time greats, comes from the heart because he was best man at JPR’S wedding to fellow medical school student Scilla. The couple had celebrated their golden
wedding anniversary only last year before JPR died from bacterial meningitis at the age of 74 earlier this week.
No list of great sporting teams from the 20th century is authentic or complete without the Wales team of the early 1970s, when JPR’S socks were rolled down by his ankles and those sideburns were somewhere between Elvis and Bradley Wiggins in their magnitude.
“Probably the only part of his game which didn’t quite measure up to the rest was his kicking,” Taylor added. “And yet JPR launched one of the most famous drop-goals in history because his audacity, and instinctive sense of occasion, were incomparable.”
The Lions, needing to avoid defeat to secure an historic series win against the All Blacks, were drawing the final Test 11-11 when JPR’S outrageous drop-goal soared into orbit above Eden Park.
More than half a century later, they are still the only Lions side to win a Test series in New Zealand.
Taylor – who commentated on Jonny Wilkinson’s World Cup-winning drop-goal for England in 2003 – knows a priceless kick for glory when he sees one.
Taylor said: “That Lions squad included seven London Welsh players, and five of us played in all four Test matches. JPR was the ultimate competitor – he refused to lay down his squash racquet even into his fifties, and he refused to let age dim his fitness.
“Only about 20 years ago, I remember going to watch him play squash in Cardiff against the Welsh junior champion, and for the first set he treated JPR to his repertoire of silky skills.
“But my old mate simply wasn’t having any of it – he dug in, found a way to win the second set and then wiped the floor with this guy in the decider.
“His incredible competitive instincts wouldn’t allow him to back down from any challenge.”