Carwyn’s class of ’71 spoke and All Blacks learned
For any years How We Beat The All Blacks: The 1971 Lions Speak was the prolific John Reason’s least known tome but in recent years it has advanced beyond cult status and become essential reading for many emerging coaches even if they didn’t broadcast the fact too much lest others discover their guilty secret.
It remains a little gem and only those who believe they have nothing to learn from the only Lions team ever to return from New Zealand victorious would pass up the opportunity to dive in occasionally for a refresher course in rugby excellence.
The verities never change even if tactics and technicalities come and go.
The slim, 152-page booklet came about in July 1972 when John Dawes, the Lions captain, gathered key members of his triumphant squad at the Polytechnic of North London, the idea being to inform aspiring British coaches how victory was achieved. Over beer and sandwiches and then in the bar long into the evening the eternal truths were thrashed out by some of the greatest names in British rugby.
Reason, armed with his huge, clunky double spool tape recorder of the time, acted as their Boswell transcribing their words of wisdom and then editing it into readable copy.
Nine of the conquering heroes of ’71 were on parade with huge sideburns apparently de riguer. Mike Gibson for example spoke on the role of outside-half and centre, Dawes lectured on counterattacking and backs play and John Taylor examined the role of the back row. Bob Hiller and Barry John spoke on all things goal-kicking but the three keynote speeches, and most enduring chapters, came from the Scotland prop Ian McLauchlan, Ireland’s prop Ray McLoughlin and Lions coach Carwyn James.
There has never been a more concise and practical explanation as to the mechanics and mysteries of front-row play than that offered by ‘Mighty Mouse’ McLauchlan while McLoughlin’s chapter – by far the longest at more than 10,000 words – on planning a powerful pack is still packed with commonsense. To conclude, the enigmatic James pulled everything together with his version of how the series was won, the closest he came to explaining fully his coaching philosophy.
The book’s devotees are many and numerous with probably none more illustrious than Graham Henry. “I wasn’t the only young coach in New Zealand who seized on this book and its lessons,” Henry recalls. “The 1971 Lions tour was the biggest wake-up call in New Zealand rugby history. The Lions forwards were superbly organised and their backs were light years ahead of us.
“From feeling invincible in 1967 and again two years later, when Wales toured, the All Blacks were suddenly a distant second. The game had moved on and changed. New Zealand rugby had to change. And we did.
“I would argue that the lessons imparted in this book provided the foundation for New Zealand’s success in the 1987 World Cup, when we produced a multi-talented team with backs and forwards combining fluently and effectively. After ’71 the coaching culture in New Zealand changed, from the grass roots upwards – mini rugby, schools and youth. By the mid-Eighties and going into the 1987 World Cup, New Zealand boasted a generation of outstanding modern-thinking, quick-witted players.
“It’s a fascinating document. It represents a distillation of all that was good in British rugby during the greatest period they had ever known. You had the remarkable 1971 Lions and very much the same players produced the definitive Barbarians performance against New Zealand in 1973. And then, a year later, the Lions destroyed the South Africans on their home patch.
“Carwyn was on another planet – we’re only just beginning to really fully embrace his philosophy, which the book outlines. He empowered the players, trusted them, treated them as intelligent individuals. All he wanted, come match day, was individuals who were confident, competent and relaxed. That almost always resulted in a good performance.
“Sometimes the touchpaper ignited and his sides produced something very special indeed. That’s what every coach aims for.”