PIVAC WILL GET US PLAYING THE RUNNING GAME SAYS WALES LEGEND
JPR Williams, 20 years old and his heart beating so loudly he can almost hear it through his red Wales jersey, makes toe-ended contact with the ball.
Fifteen yards to the right of the posts, it is, in normal circumstances, not a difficult conversion. But these are not normal circumstances.
For a start,Williams is not the team’s goalkicker – it should be Gareth Edwards but he has gone off injured. And this is minutes from the end, with Wales trailing England by a point at Twickenham.
Ray ‘Chico’ Hopkins, Edwards’s replacement, has just crossed for Wales’s fourth try and an unlikely comeback stands on the brink of completion. Everything could rest on this one kick.
The ball takes flight and Williams looks up but he has no need to do so. The noise from the travelling Welsh masses tells him. He clenches his fists, shouts for joy and races off back to the halfway line, long hair flowing behind him.
Having trailed 13-3 – a chasm in an era when a try was worth three points – Barry John’s drop goal rounds off a momentous 17-13 win for Wales.
There were many great days for Williams against England in a Wales shirt. He scored four tries at Twickenham alone, but the 1970 raid was especially satisfying with his first touchdown for Wales and that priceless kick.
“I was always a reluctant goalkicker. I can’t say I really enjoyed it but fortunately that one went over,” he said.
“I had the old boots on made by a firm called Laws in Wimbledon, who made them with a square toe so that you could kick it straight on.
“I was living in London at the time as a medical student so it was even more important to win to show all my English friends I wasn’t frightened of the English.
“I played 11 times against England and was never on the losing side. That is a record which will be pretty hard to beat.”
Williams was the mainstay of a backline wished into existence by the gods, the rock at the back – a big tackler and big personality. And he remains one to this day. Still president of his beloved Bridgend, he has strong views onWelsh rugby.
The Welsh Rugby Union? Williams is not impressed.
“TheWRU are like a lot of governing bodies. They don’t really govern the game. They’re only interested in themselves.”
The regions? Not for him.
“I’m not a big fan. We have tried to copy Ireland, whose regions have