He was gone! Scown joins in the fun over that try

SO many came to celebrate The Try Of The Century that it might almost have looked like a latter-day feeding of the 5,000, all seated in a dining room so mighty it extended far beyond what the eye could see.

The biggest lunch of its kind staged in Wales had grown into such epic proportion that those who conjured up the try finished off by a hurtling Gareth Edwards, pre-knighthood, might have half-expected Steven Spielberg to join his old friends on the big stage at any moment.

Instead, thanks to the wonders of technology, a trio of All Blacks appeared from the other side of the world: Ian Kirkpatrick, captain on that famous day in Cardiff 50 years earlier, Bryan ‘Bee Gee’ Williams, the first Samoan to play for New Zealand, and the man without whom there would have been no try to celebrate, Alistair Scown.

He, of course, has long gone down in folklore as the wing forward who made it all possible. His was the great misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when Phil Bennett delivered the most devastating double sidestep witnessed at the old Arms Park. “It was great to be a part of that amazing try even if it was for the wrong reason,’’ a beaming Scown told the multitude of some 1,200. “Unfortunately, I started it by missing that first tackle.’’

An openside wing forward preys on opposing fly-halves and Scown had marked Bennett earlier on that tour at Llanelli, another lost cause. “Unfortunately, in the Barbarians match,” he said, still beaming, “I pulled the trigger a little too soon and he was gone. I am reminded of that on a regular basis, not always in a complimentary way.’’

Scown never played for the All Blacks again. And yet he got up at four o’clock that morning, and happily spoke of a match he had long tried to forget, to enhance the entertainment value of a largely Welsh audience then well into their six-hour liquid lunch.

The All Black guests paid generous tribute to their old opponents, perhaps a trifle bemused that their defeat that day in a non-Test match should be the subject of celebration on such a grand scale so long after the event.

“We celebrate it because New Zealand are great opponents, great players and great people,’’ Sir Gareth told them. “You always want to test yourself against the best and it’s a great compliment to the All Blacks that we celebrate occasions like these. It’s amazing the pleasure people still get from this particular match.’’

‘Kirky’ and ‘Bee Gee’ could not go any higher in the estimation of rugby students the world over but one man most certainly did, for joining in the fun and looking as though he enjoyed being there.

Well played, Alistair Scown.