Blast from the rugby past – with loo rolls

WHAT a treat it was revisiting on telly the 1973 Barbarians v All Blacks game last weekend. And who would have thought that toilet rolls would be as high-profile 50 years ago as today – but more of that later.

The first thing one noticed was how the laws of the game have changed, and I’m not sure for the better. And there were no collapsed scrums – well, apart from one untidy Baa-Baas effort, more down to it being a scratch pack I guess – which suggests that today’s forwards are actually coached to collapse scrums. Boo, hiss!

Then that try. If any other player on the planet other than Phil Bennett was covering under his own posts the clever New Zealand kick ahead, with three All Blacks bearing down on him, he would have cleared for touch and the crowd would have appreciated and applauded his defence. But no, Benny did what he always did for Carwyn James and Llanelli and launched his Fred Astaire routine (“Steppin’ out with my baby...” – his baby back then of course being the rugby ball).

And there was a reminder of Derek Quinnell’s masterful take and give of a low, difficult ball, and the one place where the move, once launched, could have broken down.

Also, under today’s laws the game would have been littered with high tackle penalties, along with a few cards too, I guess.

Finally the toilet rolls thrown on to the field following the Gareth Edwards try. I had forgotten that before high-fives and supporters performing to camera and big screen, exuberance was celebrated at football and rugby games by thrown toilet rolls. And in the Baa-Baas game, the evidence remained on the field throughout the game. Who’d have thought there’d be nothing new to appreciate 47 years on?

Such glorious memories will be impossible to wipe off my brain’s hard drive. Huw Beynon Llandeilo