There are some good books out there, not least "The Victorious Lions".

It WAS Welsh dominated - James, Dawes, and the Davies/Edwards/John hinge, plus JPR and Gerald. It was also the tour that put lie to the cultural understanding that the Welsh don't tour.

Doug Smith forecast a 2-1-1 tour, and was right.

To do Mike Gibson justice, you'd have to have a program in its own right. The number of tours and Tests he played; he started at 10, I believe, and was good enough to be world class in the centres when he moved there so they could accommodate someone whose name escaped me - Barry? One of the initial inductees into the International Rugby Hall of Fame. World Class and Legend are words that get bandied about a lot - he's one of the few worth it.

How would they fare nowadays? It's an invidious comparison - size, speed, coaching etc all make a difference. Here's how I see it: they were the best of their time.And I think afforded the same opportunities, coaching etc as many of today's players, they'd win.

Why? They were coached to play the game - that is, play what you see in front of you. Not automatons.

I don't know much about Carwyn being 'troubled' - but he was a man of deep principle. Ardent Welsh nationalist, and objected to apartheid. To the extent that he refused to watch when his Llanelli team played the 'Boks.

Two things I'm a dork about: Yeager - Apollo program, and rugby. And I uberdork on the 71 and 74 Lions. I was born on 71, but grew up reading these players' autobiographies. That's the rugby world I yearn for.
*puffs metaphorical pipe*

I saw the thread title, and my immediate thought was "oh fuck, please don't tell me he died"

My first and he remains my main sporting hero. Effortlessly graceful under pressure; find a clip of Gibson releasing the ball at the moment of a tackle. Fantastic.

Ulster v All Blacks at Ravenhill 1973 was the moment my love for rugby union began. i wanted to be Mike after that until it was pointed out that as a big slow lad I was better placed in the second row.

That names makes me flinch.

You see, when I was about 7 and my brothers were in their early teens - the cry "Barry John!" would sometimes ring out as I walked into the front room.

This was their cue to take it in turns to rugby tackle me violently to the ground, leaving me in mangled heap. One would do it - and then as I got up and recovered and tried to walk away - another one would shout "Barry John!" and do it again - and so on. It was a great "game".

was troubled due to accusations, never confirmed though always suspected, that he was gay. Being gay in the Gwendraeth Valley in the 50s - 70s would have been incredibly brave to admit.

He would have been Welsh coach but insisted on doing things his own way. That would have rankled the 'Big 5' selection committee at the time so the best coach of his generation was overlooked.

As for Gibson, Barry John was interviewed and said that playing for the Lions was such an easy job for him because whenever he did something instinctive, he knew he had Gibson on his shoulder.

When Gareth Edwards first started playing international rugby with Barry John he asked him, as number 9, where Barry preferred to have the ball passed out to him.
"Don't worry about that, Gar'. You throw it wherever you like. I'll be there to catch it."
And he was. Time and time again.

Rugby Union in the 1970s has never been surpassed, has it? I don't think that's a rose-tinted view, is it?

It was just before my time but the combination of the names Barry John, Gareth Edwards, Mike Gibson, David Duckham, Gerald Davies, John Taylor etc and the immortal tones of Bill McLaren, Nigel Starmer-Smith and sometimes Cliff Morgan always sends shivers. Eddie Butler and the Sky lot are not fit to .....etc etc

at Wimbledon the year before last. He was very gracious in his response to my overenthusiastic babbling and crushing handshake.

for me, unparalleled. Broke our Irish hearts countless times, talented b'stard that he was.

One thing I remembered about Barry John was how little time he took over his kicks.

In those pre-tee days he's kick up a divot, place the ball down upon it, take a few steps back, no steps to the side at all, and then just run up and kick it. Usually it went over. His Welsh team mate, wing-forward John Taylor used to take the kicks from, IIRR, wide on the right and he had a much more measured approach.

John's immediate successor Phil Bennett was a complete contrast taking a lot more care, but I'm sure either of them could knock half a dozen kicks over in the time it takes Johnny Wilkinson and all those who have since imitated his style to get a single kick completed.

We got lost driving through Cardiff and pulled up next to a very fat welsh man, I asked and got directions to Cardiff Arms Park. It was (according to about ten welsh men that then all informed us) Barry John.

We also had a pizza that night in a restaurant one table away from Clint Eastwood and Babs Streisand (surrounded by about 8 minders).

Sounds like they were lost as well.

but if you look at the test team it was basically 5 Welsh backs (Gareth Edwards, Barry John, John Dawes, Gerald Davies and JPR Williams) with Gibson at centre and David Duckham on the left wing. The "basically" is because I think John Bevan, another Welshman, played in the first test instead of Duckham.

The test pack only had 2 Welshmen in it (Mervyn Davies and Derek Quinnell at 8 and 6) along with a lot of legends from other countries: Willie John McBride and Gordon Brown in the second row, Slattery at open side flanker, Ian McLaughlin and Sandy Carmichael were the props (after the Irish props expected to play the tests were brutally beaten up in a scandalously dirty match vs Canterbury) and John Pullin was hooker.