The try to beat all tries

IT IS the try seared into the memory of every rugby fan.

Gareth Edwards’ wonder score for the Barbarians against New Zealand at Cardiff Arms’ Park, exactly 30 years ago. Phil Bennett shimmies and passes to Williams, Williams to Pullin to Dawes, Quinnell to Edwards. Try.

It was the only the second minute of the game and the opening exchanges had been pretty frenetic. So when All Black winger Bryan Williams got the ball from his skipper Ian Kirkpatrick and kicked it deep inside the Barbarian 22, you would have put money on the ball being swiftly returned to the other end of the pitch.

This, though, was the Baa-Baas and the man fielding the ball deep in his own territory was Welsh wizard Phil Bennett.

The flyhalf picked the ball up five yards from his own line and turned upfield to assess the situation. Three successive jinks later, he had eluded the attentions of three All Blacks, Scown, Hurst and Kirkpatrick. Bennett passed it on to JPR Williams. JPR was tackled high but still managed a pass to John Pullin.

Confused, or maybe giddy as English hookers regularly were in such exalted company, Pullin gave the ball to captain for the day John Dawes who sold a dummy, made ground and passed inside to the uncapped Welshman Tom David.

David was by this stage inside All Black territory and being tailed by New Zealanders intent on revenge for the preceding year’s first defeat to a touring Lions side. The Welshman threw one-handed inside to Derek Quinnell who in turn threw another one-handed pass inside. It is intended for John Bevan but Gareth Edwards runs from nowhere to intercept his own team-mate. The Cardiff legend was explosive over the remaining 30 yards and his dive into the left-hand corner of the River Taff end was spectacular.

From that day hence the score has become regarded as The Try.

But Edwards preferred to remember the all-round performance that day as he recalled: “This was 15 minutes of the greatest rugby in the world. But it was the tackling for 25 minutes in the second-half which won the game. .

“We had the opportunity to play the game as it was meant to be played. Great rugby transcends politics, witnessing the game that day was special. It doesn't matter what level you play, we were part of history. It's easy to go along and discuss it at great lengths but it was a great thrill for all of us.”

As for the try itself, Edwards admitted he had gone into the game scared to death about not being able to keep up with the ball. He never wanted to be caught for not being around the ball, the legendary scrum-half said, so he just kept running behind it. And when Quinnell, father of current Llanelli and Wales icon Scott Quinnell, shaped to pass inside to Bevan, Edwards revealed last week that he shouted to him in Welsh to get hold of it instead of the centre. After that, with ball firmly in hand, the fear that had wracked Edwards was left as far behind him as the chasing pack of All Blacks. Nobody would have been able to catch him that day.

The Baa-Baas’ fourth and final try that afternoon is considered almost a match for the first, JPR crashing over the line in the right-hand corner of the town end, after a series of spectacular moves by David Duckham, Mike Gibson and Fergus Slattery in an overall move that featured all 15 Barbarians handling the ball at least once.

It is the pure genius of the Edwards try that sends a tingle down the spines of most fans and for proof of its timelessness and unique place in rugby folklore, the man himself recalled an incident about 10 years ago. “We filmed a story for NZ TV where the match had to be replayed. The nucleus of the actors were well-known lads from that part of the world. On the Welsh side were a few lads who had played the game. “The producer wanted to replay the famous opening try. He set the cameras at Cardiff Arms Park. It was absolutely as it was that day, it went along one wing, then down the other, but as we were about to clinch the glory, the winger dropped it. We could never relive that moment.”