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Gloves Come Off The first two matches, involving the New Zealand All Blacks, the British Lions and the New Zealand Maori, were very physical affairs. They set the tone for a good day of rugby. I was seated in the south stand with family and friends to the north of the ground. As the Kiwis prepared to take to the field against the Lions, I could see the Lions' forwards lining up in their customary three-man front row, with Gerald Davies as the tighthead prop and Gareth Edwards at Number 8, and two powerful loose forwards outside of them. On each side of them stood the Kiwi scrum-half and outside backs. The Lions' loose forwards, John Dawes and Colin Meads, stood three or four feet taller than New Zealand's Number 8, Ron Cribb, with his slight build and moustache. The first scrum was set, and New Zealand kicked off to open the game. The Lions went through the forwards at pace, and the All Blacks pack had little time to set their scrum. There was no way for Cribb to stop them. Dawes crashed his bulk into him and the scrum collapsed. As the Lions players made their way back to their line I was horrified to see that Ron Cribb was on the ground, with three Lions forwards standing over him. It was at that moment I realised the enormous physical stature of the Lions' front row. The two scrums set after that saw John Dawes outmuscle Cribb and Meads beat out Cribb to set the ball for the Lions' maul. Those three incidents showed clearly to me that there was going to be a clear advantage for the Lions throughout the entire series. A lot of New Zealand fans, like me, were concerned at the physical nature of these series. By playing a scrum versus a three-man front, and the scrums were never played in any of the Lions' games. However, the scrums were never allowed in the New Zealanders' games. Rugby League rules required scrums to be formed of four players at each side of the scrum, so it was a clear advantage. The Lions did not want any scrums so the three-man front was the best option for them. Ron Cribb only just managed to keep up with the physical battle, and the big New Zealand forward pack was clearly out-muscled. The most memorable scrum in that series was when Gareth Edwards went through the New Zealand centre, Ian Kirkpatrick, to score for the Lions in their first match with Wales in Cardiff. The Lions centre Edwards was a 6ft 2in giant who had broken all his teeth after being punched in the face by John Dawes when he was playing for the 1971 Lions against England, and he was known for his ferocity. He was also known as a good friend to the players and supporters. But that day in Cardiff he had to defend himself as a target for the Lions forwards. I was in the crowd that day. When he went over the top he did not know whether he was carrying the ball or not, or whether he was free to tackle. He was left wide open as this enormous player Edwards came in behind him. Edwards ran over him and his teeth were smashed, breaking the right upper jaw, and his left incisor. It was all too much for me. I could see he had to make contact with Edwards, and his face was contorted with pain. The man who scored that penalty was in no way responsible for it. I have never forgotten it. I can remember it as if it were yesterday. This giant of a man was driven by a sense of injustice, which showed the real depth of his character. When he returned to the Lions in 1971 with Edwards, he played a key role in the Lions' series win, and I went to that series to see him play. The Lions won and I was very proud of that. If this game was really a test of physicality, as I hoped it was, then I felt the New Zealanders would not fare well against the Lions. The problem for me was that I did not think that would be enough. I was sure this team of great players, led by Edwards and Gerald Davies, would be very strong for the All Blacks. There were a few weaknesses in the New Zealand side, but that was not going to be an easy match-up. With my experience of the Lions touring on behalf of the 1971 squad, I was sure the Lions would win. I always tried to watch them play against Australia but found myself in Cardiff instead. That was why I decided to come along to the second game between the New Zealand All Blacks and Wales at Christchurch in the first week. Lions centre Mike Gibson was in the team, and the crowd turned out in force. As soon as I arrived at the ground, I knew it would be a physical match and the home players would be in for a tough time. From the start there was some punching and kicking going on, but not very much at first. In the last 10 minutes it became a free-for-all. I was really surprised when all hell broke loose. I was knocked off my feet, and as I was landing on my back I felt someone hitting me hard from the front, like a body blow, and I also felt another player standing over me. For a split second I thought I was going to be kicked, and it would have been a terrible thing to happen because I could have been crippled by it. I turned my head to see who it was and saw the figure of Ian Kirkpatrick looming over me. I could see he was on top of me and he was looking down, breathing heavily, after a big effort on the end of the New Zealand pack. He was a strong guy with a solid reputation as a hitter and as a tough player. He was known for being hard to tackle. I thought of him as an animal, the strongest man, and a friend of mine. He told me later he actually thought he was going to have the last word and kill me, but it was one of his team mates who stepped in and said, 'For Christ's sake! Look what you're doing to this poor fellow. Kick him hard, kick him now.' I can still remember the words when Kirkpatrick went over on me. He looked over his shoulder and spoke to me, saying, 'Tell Maori fans I like Maori.' But this was after he had gone through my body with his boot. He did not say this to me until he was off the ground, and as he went by me he just glanced over and said it to my face. I can still remember the words coming from his mouth. That was the only time I was ever spoken to by one of the All Blacks. There were eight Welsh players involved in that tour. I had a very strong bond with them all because we all knew each other so well. To come away from the tour at the end of 1971, knowing that this could have been the Lions' first series win since the famous British and Irish Lions team of 1950, and for me it was a very sad series, I could not forget these experiences. But when they went away and did well and came home I felt elation. I saw a sense of justice for the boys who had come from the islands and Wales and given us such a wonderful game. The fact that they were now touring us, when they had been in our country for eight or nine years at that stage, as long as the All Blacks, was tremendous. It felt like a reward for all their hard work. The Welsh and Maori did not play at the same time, but we played against them often enough. I had mixed emotions as they played away to South Africa on the second day of that match. That is something which was typical of Welsh rugby people. We played a lot of rugby matches in the 1970s against the Maoris, which gave us another insight into the game and helped us to understand what a tough, determined and hard rugby culture that is. ## Lions No. 12: Mike Gibson I was delighted to go on the Lions tour to New Zealand in 1971 with a front row that contained five future Welsh internationals. That gave us an awful lot of pressure in our forwards and allowed us to have our best season in the Five Nations for many years. That was really our first good season as a front five since the days of Jack Bassett. We went out and won the Grand Slam in 1971. The Lions tour meant so much to us all, but I was sure we were going to win in New Zealand. The game in Cardiff was a big test, but it was also the first time we had played New Zealand at home. I had a feeling that this was one of those games that could swing either way. I was one of five front-rowers and our general game plan was very basic. If we were running at them there was no point in stopping the ball from going down. We worked very hard at doing that. We had a tight forward pack with a three-man front row of me, Keith Jarrett and Ray Gravell, with Clive Rees in the tight. They had an eight-man front row as well, with a front row of Ian McLauchlan, a young New Zealander called Mark Shaw, his opposite number Brian Lochore and two other All Blacks.