The British and Irish Lions’ tour of 1971 will go down in history, not only as their first and only series victory over the All Blacks to date, but also as the tour that changed New Zealand and Welsh rugby forever.
The Lions, desperate to beat the odds and come away with a series win (2-1), devised what has now become known as 15-man rugby. It was back to the drawing board for the seemingly invincible All Blacks.
The story of how captain John Dawes and legendary coach Carwyn James thought up their strategy will be told in Irish production company Square One’s Llewod ’71 programme on S4C on June 16 (9.30pm).
It was the curiosity of Irish producer Shane Tobin which led to the creation of this programme, as he set about finding out whether the Lions had ever won a series in New Zealand. The programme was conceived over a pint with one of Ireland’s leading and award-winning directors, Welshman Andrew Gallimore. The result of his curiosity is an exciting programme with never-before-seen footage and interviews. The icing on the cake is a narration by actor Matthew Rhys, with additional comments by leading Welsh sports authors and historians.
Ahead of the programme, John Dawes has spoken of the influence of key players. But the class of ’71 will forever be indebted to the relationship between captain and coach.
As John Dawes, the first Welshman to captain the Lions, explains, “It was essential. Carwyn was an intellectual in terms of rugby football. He knew what he wanted from the Lions and he knew what to expect from the All Blacks. So he went out and put us in the frame of mind that we’d have to play well to beat them and that’s what we did.”
Together, they came up with a style of play, involving all 15 players, which would counter the strength and sheer brute force of the All Blacks’ pack and according to John Dawes, it was a style that “Carwyn had always wanted to play”. But he needed the players to execute his great plan. Enter outside-half Barry John.
“I think Barry was the true example of how to play 15-man rugby,” says John Dawes. “It wasn’t just his kicking, it was his control of the game. He was a natural.
“They hadn’t seen much of him. What he did, he showed them a complete game for a fly-half and how to play it. He not only controlled the game but luckily for us, he did everything right at the right time.”
Alongside the fly-half wizardry of Barry John, the Lions could call upon “possibly the greatest player in the world” in Gareth Edwards.
“It was a partnership personified. They just worked together as a combination superbly. You could mention, in the backs, Mike Gibson, David Duckham, JPR Williams… They all made their contribution. That’s why we won.”
But credit must go to other names in the team, also – Gerald Davies, John Bevan and Derek Quinnell the other stand-out performers amongst the Welsh contingent.
As John Dawes explains, “I think it was the attitude of the remainder of the players as well. We didn’t go into our little shell and hide away and not do anything. We just had to do what we thought we could do and it worked.
“John Bevan was just one of those backs that developed on the tour. He became a top class international player and became very popular in New Zealand, and very watchable in the sense that they had to watch him because he could score tries.
“When you’ve got people like Gerald Davies in the team, then if you’re lucky enough to get some tries from him, you’re going to play with some confidence. That’s what we had. There wasn’t only Gerald. Dave Duckham was another one, JPR, Mike Gibson… These are all people who had that little bit of magic which, to be honest, as the tour progressed, began to frighten the All Blacks. They hadn’t realised they were going to see such talent.”
New Zealand’s provincial sides had very few answers as the Lions went on the rampage during the warm-up matches. Their only response was to revert to underhand tactics although John Dawes acknowledges that the now infamous Canterbury clash “was a game that was built up by the press” and that it added an extra bite to proceedings in the tests.
The warm-up matches sent a warning to the All Blacks about what they would be up against in the test series.
As John Dawes recalls, “They certainly thought that we weren’t going to win the series when we first arrived out there. Then we lost the first game, and that gave them confidence. But it didn’t knock us. We went on from there, and I don’t think we lost a game until the end.”
The 2-1 series win sent shockwaves through the rugby world and it changed how the All Blacks approached the game from then on.
“They didn’t expect it, but they appreciated it. I think, since then, they’ve polished their game somewhat and that means that they’re a tougher job now than they were in those days.”
Llewod ’71, Friday 16 June, 9.30pm
English subtitles available
Available internationally on-demand at s4c.cymru