1977 CLASSIC: British Irish Lions 23-14 Barbarians | Highlights & tries 

Now that is the way rugby should be played !! Simply beatiful stuff , and the greatest players doing it !!

Sidesteps. Swerve. Back row moves. Line out peels. Rucks. Passing backwards. Remember them? Now everyone is 105 kg and can bench 140kg. Now the trainers kit bag is bigger than Gerald Davies! What an era!

Normal sized folk playing open rugby...breathtaking..

I attended this match with my dear father, long drive down from Manchester but we met up with my charming Welsh friends. I was 19, back home from Toulouse, he was in his late 40s and got caught in a crowd rush in the stands which worried me... Rives and Skréla for the Babas, remarkable, a great match. Father slept on the back seat while I drove his Audi back up north. My best ever day out with my dad. I continued living abroad which must have made him miserable. He died at 63. I'm still around, older than that, and still in France. Halycon days.

Players sprinting, quick out the blocks, explosive pace, side stepping and sleight of hand, sustained, non-stop hard running..……. to the naked eye, this all looks much faster and quicker and breath taking and exhilarating than anything in 2019.

I went to this game as a 13 yr old thank you lovely special memories of a great day out with my dad who is sadly no longer with us.

Absolutely awesome! I can't believe I missed this game in '77 and I've never seen this before.

Both teams filled with Welsh superstars from the 70’s. Glorious running rugby.

What a remarkable match - almost every one of the great names of rugby of the later 1970s there. Magical.

Thanks for sharing, fantastic rugby played in the true spirit of the game

One of the interesting things from these highlights (other than the superb attacking play) is how good Phil Bennett's defensive game was...

Professionalism has made rugby boring. I never thought I'd think that much less write it. A good match, played for the love of it, really was much more entertaining back then.

When the game was so much more open and straight forward. Very fortunate to have witnessed those times. There have always been front row struggles, but without repetitive penalties being awarded. It was fun with the ball played in hand. Today with defence coaches etc and game plans preset to every players heart rate, is it better? How so many people think certain players are wonderful, because they continually kick possession away I cannot understand it. Thank you gentlemen for such wonderful demonstration of your personal skills.

Wow, what an upload...thank you. As a Welsh fan it was great to see so many of those 70's legends playing against each other...

Terrific stuff. You don't see rugby like this now sadly.

I was at that game & what a game it was too. All those great players from yesteryear, a joy to watch.

My first time at Twickenham. What a privilege. So many great names.

Today's rugby is over-regulated and it tells! These were days of natural flair from players who played for the love of the game and a few beer tokens!

watching this reminds me how one dimensional test rugby is now. this is more enjoyable to watch than hit up league style crap that passes as rugby today

I was working at the team hotel in Richmond that day. After the gala dinner that night, they replayed this match IN BLACK TIE, THE BALLROOM !!!

Wonderfully played!

Great stuff. I was there. I also remember another similar game - possibly Gareth Edward's last game (President's 15 v Baa-Baas, or England/Wales v Scotland/Ireland?) when he back heeled a drop kick to convert a try and then did a hand spring. He also threw HUGE reverse passes which prompted gasps of approval from the crowd. It might have been in the former game that Jo Maso of France played centre - he was a magician with the ball in hand - seemed to be able to lean one way and run the other, defying the laws of physics! As other posters have said on this and other videos of this era - the game was faster and more flowing than today. There's no space now, and I am fed up of constant pick and go moves when there are acres of space outside. GRRRR!!!

The speed, the clever lines, the offload and the inventive play, why can't we play like that again?

I love rugby when its played like this

and in 1978 they introduced the knock-on law. joking aside what a player jp rieves was

Unusual to see the likes of JPR, Edwards and Gerald Davies playing against their Wales team mates! Great contributions from France's JP Rives and England prop Barry Nelmes.

great to see my old school pal Nelmer as we called him then, we played in the school 15 together.

Fine match. O for a time machine. At one point there was a move: Gareth Edwards to Rives, to Bastiat, back to Rives, to Gerald Davies. Talk about walking with giants.

I also remember an Englan Wales v Scotland Ireland match the shirts were quartered red and white for Eng Wal and Blue and Green for Scot Ire

Terry Fenwick was a very, very , underrated player!

This was back when there was so much more flair and pace in the game, and so many better classy players about. The professional game has killed of this kind of rugby

One of the most talented group of players ever assembled on a rugby pitch ..

Mid summer warm up for the Lions 1977 tour to NZ in our winter (which turned out to be one of the most miserable we have had) BUT more critically the NZ reaction to this Lions team courtesy of the UK reaction to our 1973 All Black tour to the UK, where our "heros" were villified by Fleet street as a bunch of gangsters...us typically hospitable kiwis NEVER forgot the aggro of the UK press and public, so boy did we give the 1977 Lions a "serve" Sad that we lowered our standards. Saying all that, what an absolutely awesome game!!

My grandads brother is steve fenwick number 13

All this giving the ball for the backs to run with - it'll never catch on.

Was Phil Bennett ever offered a contract to play rugby league? There must have been interest from the North in such an exciting player.

They played fast, open rugby. Imagine how much faster they'd've been without the hair, moustaches and buggers' grips!

1:15 that pass was pure filth, absolutely loved this game

And no kicking tee's....... stamp a hole in the turf with your heel... put ball down , and kick it .... unbelievable skills . And didn't take 90 seconds either .

superb rugby just how it should be played

What wonderful rugby

This is the type of rugby that happened when people tackled properly. These days it's a grind to watch. An absolute grind. We have ruined rugby

That "tackle" by JPR on Fenwick for the 1st try was a disgrace.

JPR taking out his country and club team mate with a late tackle on Fenwick for the 1st try.!!

I'm pretty certain Edwards played the whole match for the BaBas. He didn't tour with the 77 Lions.

1st try was a forward pass from Andy Irvine. Watch it again and look at the lines on the pitch.

It isn't the classic 73 game between the ABs and the Baa Baas; but it ain't far behind it - and some the greatest names in world rugby history: Edwards, Rives, Gerald Davies; Irvine; Bennett, JPR etc -- there will never be players of this ilk again, nor games like this again under the over-regulated, over-professionalised game of the modern era

That Lions 15 looks a lot like Danie Gerber when he runs

JPR! Gerald Davis! Ray Gravel! Can’t make the Lions team! Shows you the talent on display that day! Rugby without regulation! How it should be!!

Wow

JPR not playing for the Lions?

Oooh when Rugby WAS Rugby !!

The outside - half by the name of David Richards playing for the Barbarians is playing out of position, he played at centre for Swansea and Wales .

Great example of running rugby. Sadly we don't see so much of this nowadays. Seems more like Kenworth crash and barge today by comparison to Ford Mustangs and Ferraris of the 1970s.

Not a single try by a rolling maul. Running and passing instead. What rugby once was.

2:27 what about that massive knock-on though?

I miss Espn classic

Let’s agree on one thing today’s rugby is bloody well boring, this is utterly brilliant, full of flair on both sides with the greatest names in the game …, Like football all about the money ……

Rugby shirts!

Lions first try was a forward pass.

When rugby was amateur and a great spectator sport and no video ref.

Open rugby at its best.

whose the baa baa 12?

what ever happened to rugby

Why was JPR not playing for the Lions?

Hairstyle 1970s.

tried to watch it too many fucken adds god dam it we are surrounded by stupid advertising 24/7 FFS

I grew up watching this level 9f exciting rugby,i cant be bothered with the modern game,no skill no talent,no excitement

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