Very sorry to hear of Phil's passing, as such a relatively young age. The sidestepping genius of rugby, on display in this video. RIP Phil, you were truly brilliant...
God bless you Phil not only were you the king on the field but a wonderful humble human being off it. We will not see your like again, thank you for some wonderful wonderful memories . Benny the king 😢 Gone but never never forgotten.🙏🙏🙏
Not only was that the greatest try but the great move that lead to it, the barbarians kept the ball moving and once the ball was picked up by Gareth you knew there's only gonna be one conclusion, and let's not forget how it was all started with Bennett
JPR's near the end of the match was a classic too, but I'd have to say that Cliff Morgan's presentation of both are classic. He managed to squeeze in not just the players' names on that ultimate try of the match, but their country as well as the ball was passed along between Barbarians. What can match that? Even the great Bill McClaren didn't do that.
I was there- at the end where the try was scored, so saw it all coming towards me. I've never forgotten it- all started by the genius of Phil Bennett...
Bennett's stepping is yet to be equalled! For once, the over-used "greatest of all time", is TOTALLY warranted - and , imo, *an understatement.* I remember watching it as a 13 year-old. Our school game had been cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch, so we all went into the main school hall and watched it live. *That's the day I truly fell in love with Ruby Union,* and became, and still am, an "Honorary" Wales fan. They've been my National team ever since - even though I'm born and raised in Sarf London. David Duckham was absolutely outstanding on the wing;; the whole team were just out of this world. Rugby played the way God intended. The only game in recent times that comes close, is Japan vs South Africa @ the 2015 RWC. *THAT* was one helluva game!!!
I was a student and didn't have a tv so me and my mate stood outside a radio rentals shop and watched the entire game, there must be been about 20 other people who were transfixed....absolutely fabulous!!
Been said...but truly a thing of beauty. RIP Phil Bennett. I imagine he has just sidestepped St Peter, dummied Jesus and placed the ball between the pearly gates with a smile.
Rest in Peace Sir Phil Bennett, a TRUE WELSH RUGBY LEGEND. GOD BLESS YOU PHIL SENDING MY LOVE TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS NOT FORGETTING YOUR ARMY OF FANS ALL AROUND THE WORLD. TRULY, TRULY SADDENED BY YOUR PASSING. MUCH LOVE XX
As a young English lad I was often in awe of the Welsh side of that time. To me Phil Bennett was probably the greatest fly half that ever lived. I know many welshmen will Say Barry John was the greatest. But Phil Bennett possessed the greatest of side steps. Just watch him in this try. RIP Benny
JPR, JJ, Gareth Edwards, fantastic Welsh players and team who dominated the decade.Always a pleasure to watch. When rugby was a sport played by amateurs and gentlemen and the playing field was not biased to the larger countries and money.
However the Welsh national side never beat the All Blacks in that time and still havent.. It would be more fairer to say that the combined united Kingdom team were the best team for the first half of the decade
JPR requested those high tackles, to exercise his neck muscles!! Toughest bastard to ever pull on a rugby jersey! Probably the best all round full back ever too!
I love all these comments but the bit that does my head in is garath Edwards facing the wrong way at a standstill 8m behind John pullin and then he appears from nowhere to take the final pass. Incredible speed and desire. Bolt wouldn't have got near him!
Yes it was a brilliant try by the Barbarians and it is considered the greatest try in rugby history. But lets remember this wasn't an international match but a gala/festival match at the very end of the ABs tour of the UK 1972-73.
Thanks. Have noticed some rugby greats who played in that match have passed away in recent times BJ Robertson, Phil Bennett, David Duckham, and JPR Williams.@@kenjones6441
Still get goosebumps remember watching it live and starting to jump around shouting go on keep it going keep it going magical those names Jpr Gareth Davies Phil Bennett Gareth Edwards
Back then rugby was played by real men who didnt moan or whinge and high shots were just part of the game and before you moan all teams did it - it certainly was a different game back then
Whenever i see this bit of team sporting genius i always think of the Brazil 1970 wonder goal in the World Cup football final against Italy which also started with brilliant skill in their own half.
Jerry O'Shea football is better now, rugby is worse. It’s a limitation of the game that in the end, muscle, not skill, wins. The opposite is becoming true of football.
There haven't been very many Maoris in the AB's for decades, they're almost all Islanders these days, and a lot of those player (Brian Williams, Sid Going, et al) were of Maori heritage. The Haka didn't become an integral part of All Black culture until the mid 1980"s . They only did it overseas, for instance. Never in New Zealand (Making the Haka important the ONLY thing I give Taine Randell any credit for as AB captain).
All Blacks of Maori descent in recent times. Israel Dagg, Aaron Smith,Aaron Cruden, Damien McKenzie, Liam Messam, Cody Taylor,TJ Perenara, Dane Coles, Tawera Kerr Barlow, Hosea Gear,Reiko Ioane, Jackson Hemopo ,Piri Weepu, Carl Hayman,Kees Meus etc etc Not many Maori yeah right.
My father was at this game. Said he was in the crowd near to the sheep that you can see during the celebration. How I wish the pixelation was better and perhaps I could find him in the crowd. Fantastic try, and a real ‘I was there’ moment.
What makes this try so special for many who know rugby is the spirit of teamwork infused with the the amateur love for the game. You can sense the sheer abandon with which those Baa-Baas, a scratch team for the occasion, put that astonishing passage of play in motion - spontaneously, selflessly, instinctively, each knowing exactly where to be at in the fleeting moment and exactly what to do. Whenever I get jaded with the laboratory grown version of rugby in this professional era, I return to this game of 1973. Rugby, stripped of all the clutter of money, contracts, scientific analysis, pre-match hype and post-match forensics.
A better brand of rugby in those days ;- more expansive, more entertaining and played by “normal sized men” with passion. “The Try” is credited to Gareth Edwards, but everyone seems to ignore the man who started it - Phil Bennett - with a catch, 3 side-steps committing 4 All Blacks. Yes, there was Edwards, Duckham. Gibson, JPR, Bevan, but don’t forget Phil Bennett, who was capped by Wales at every position in the backs except from scrum half and is probably “the most complete outside half” that the British Isles has ever produced, save only perhaps for Johnny Wilkinson. The commentator, Cliff Morgan MBE ( should have been knighted ). His eloquence in saying “If the greatest writer of the written word had written what we have just witnessed, no man would have believed him”.
The brilliant timing of the passes made this try and initially Phil Bennet's elusiveness contributed greatly to create pressure on the defence until the try was scored.Gareth Edward again showing that if a ball is received at speed it is a live opportunity.Brilliant players who knew one another well by playing together for quite a while.
In today's game,the try would of been reviewed by the TMO. The pass to Edwards was marginally forward but the Ref would of taken it back for the high tackle by Bryan Williams back on the AB 25 yard line. Great try. The only one to rival is probably the Try from the end of the world scored against the ABs by the French to win the last test series lost by the ABs in NZ in 1994
Last time I saw Phil Bennet was in 1977 when they played a match in Fiji after their tour of New Zealand. The Lions lost that game, but Phil Bennet was a different class of player. RIP Phil Bennet.
unforgetable but just imagine, the modern whistle blowing wally would have stopped the game twice in this sequence for harmless high tackles. they have destroyed a once beautiful game.
RIP Phil Bennett.....probably the most memorable try I've ever seen, started by a jinking wizard that the Kiwis could NOT lay a hand on. One of a kind.
Well said. I am a Kiwi and All Black fan and I totally support your comment. Phil Bennett is a jinking wizard and he bought an extra something special to the game of rugby. RIP Phil and much aroha / love to you, your family and the great Welsh Rugby players.
Gosh when I see The National Arms Park Stadium as it was...The soul of Welsh Rugby..When the National Team was the best in Europe...IF think that the new one has not that inside flamme of hope and proud Well anyway got to live in our time....
The 'marginally' forward pass at the end makes up for Brian Williams, twice, trying to take JPR's head off, but lets not forget Phil Bennett who started it all with those outrageous sidesteps. If the truth be known, apart from Tommy David (the one required uncapped player for it to be an official Barbarian side), this was the British Lions playing on home turf. I remember it well.
Does anyone else on here think when you watch the all black haka at the beginning it wasn't intimidating at all It looked wrong. When the moaris of new zealand do it you are in awe. And also the try from Gareth Edwards what a try that was one of the greatest ever from the Welsh wizard awesome 👌.
This was the greatest match ever televised and the greatest try ever scored, but the final pass to Gareth Edwards was actually forward, but l am so glad the referee didn't spot it. I never tire of watching that match it was the Greatest l have ever seen.
I was a young kid playing for my town and high school at juniors level when I watched this live, I saw it at an exemplar of perfection and courage straining every muscle to achieve then and still do, memories of why we live in the greatest country on earth.
Imagine players like Bennett and gareth Edwards playing in the modern era, with all the professionalism that comes with it, so they could concentrate fully on rugby and have the best training, fitness ect. They would be unstoppable
