Mervyn Davies Welsh Greats

-COMMENTATOR:

-A kick through there by Mervyn Davies, he could score.

The greatest number eight, arguably, that the world has ever seen.

I mean, when you're talking about icons in rugby,

this man generally was one.

Mervyn Davies led one of the greatest sporting teams of all time.

The Welsh rugby team of the mid-1970s.

-COMMENTATOR:

-JJ Williams must score.

Mervyn Davies, captain of Wales, as they won the Grand Slam.

But just as he was at the height of his powers,

his career was cruelly cut short.

What really brought it home was seeing the newspaper accounts,

'Mervyn Davies fights for his life.'

The challenges he then faced would be tougher than anything

he'd experienced on the field.

Thomas Mervyn Davies was born in Swansea in 1946.

His father, Dai, was a welder and a keen rugby player

who'd once played for Swansea as a number 8.

When Mervyn was a boy, he made an important discovery about his dad.

Being a typical naughty little boy, searching the cupboards

in the wardrobe and places I shouldn't have been,

there was this red jersey with the three feathers on it, you know.

I didn't understand at all what it was.

I did ask him, "What's this red jersey?"

He explained that that was a Welsh international jersey

that he won playing for Wales in the Victory Internationals,

which were played immediately after the Second World War.

It left its mark in the back my head, no doubt about that.

# Up in the morning and out to school... #

At the age of 11, Mervyn started at Penlan Multilateral School.

Penlan was blessed with an enthusiastic games master

called Gwyn Watts, who spotted Mervyn's potential.

He was a natural basketball player

and was also selected for the school rugby team.

Mervyn started out as a winger

but it soon became clear that he belonged in the pack,

playing the physically, tougher role of number 8.

He was like a spider monkey, Mervyn. He was all arms and legs.

When he tried to get the ball off you,

you just couldn't get away from him, he enveloped you, wrapped you up.

# Let's go surfing now, everybody's learning now... #

In 1965, Mervyn immersed himself in a whole new world

of physical activity,

when he left school to become a trainee teacher.

At Swansea College of Education

he was one of the gang of sport-loving students

who made the best of their three years on the West Wales coast.

We were either on, in or under the sea,

snorkelling or scuba-diving.

Surfing was a big thing.

Of course, it was the '60s.

Lots of different things changed in the '60s much to our pleasure.

Swansea was definitely swinging in the '60s, we had some good times.

It was at Swansea College that Mervyn met a young trainee teacher,

who was studying divinity.

I first met Mervyn when I was 18.

He was six foot five,

so yes he stood out and he had a mop of curly, dark hair.

We went out a couple of times. He was fun, very friendly.

He had a very good sense of humour but he was quiet.

He'd be winding you up in the background and you wouldn't realise

until all of a sudden you'd see him smiling and laughing.

As a student, Mervyn pursued his love of sport,

playing for the college rugby team.

We played a lot of West William teams and farming teams,

so he learnt the hard way, really because he'd be targeted.

It'd be such a torture in the line-out.

After college Mervyn and his friend Chris moved to Surrey

to take teaching jobs in the same school.

At Mytchett County Primary,

Mervyn would spend one afternoon a week teaching the infants.

That was like looking at Gulliver because he was so tall

and these little ones would be up to his knees.

He'd almost squash two or three when he turned around..

In Surrey, Mervyn tried out for the London Welsh third team.

After scoring three tries on his debut,

he was moved up to the second but it would take a far greater leap

for him to make the first 15 at London Welsh.

One of the established stars of the first was wing forward, John Taylor.

He wasn't on our radar as a star player, at all.

We were struggling for height in the first team line-up

and Glan Richards, who was the second team captain,

said, "I've got a guy who'll win you some line-out balls".

He said, "He's big, he's tall, he's not very good," he said,

"but he will win you a line-out ball."

We were so desperate we said, "Give him a game in the first team".

He got into a fitness regime that at first, I remember,

he was not really ready for.

I can remember a couple of times where he had to stop

and have a quiet little chuck.

And, he was certainly not very skilful at modern rugby,

partly because he hadn't played that much.

-COMMENTATOR:

-for London Welsh, eight is big Mervyn Davies

wearing the headband.

There was nothing exciting about him. He could tackle,

he'd fall on the ball

and he'd do all the necessary things you would expect of a forward.

This is James on the move for the Llanelli, taken by Mervyn Davies.

He really had to learn the game

and there was no better teacher than John Dawes.

At London Welsh, Dawes was developing a new style of rugby

that was expansive and free-flowing.

That's Dawes, deciding to go on his own.

John Dawes was my mentor and still is to this day, probably.

It was the first time in my life, if you like, that I met somebody,

not only I respected as a rugby player, but as a person.

There wasn't that much difference in our age,

but he was a bit of a father figure to me, in many ways.

After just six games for London Welsh, Mervyn was given

the opportunity to try out for Wales.

A week after the trial, he'd still heard nothing.

Welsh teams were announced on a Thursday,

the week prior to the international.

We hadn't had a telegram, we haven't had a telephone, or anything.

So we're in the car, going to school.

As we arrived in Mytchett,

"Let's buy a paper and see if the Welsh team is in it".

So I was driving as he jumped out and came back with all the papers,

the Daily Mirror, an English Daily Mirror.

I can remember running across the road, oblivious to any cars,

shouting to him, "You're in! You're in!"

He said, "In what?" I said, "You're in the team."

Then in the bottom corner of the back page,

in about a quarter of an inch space was the Welsh team.

The last name was mine.

He took the paper and read it about 24 times

and mysteriously the car seemed to turn around

and go back to Guildford because we didn't go to school that day.

Mervyn made his international debut at Murrayfield on 1 February 1969.

-COMMENTATOR:

-Just the two new caps, John Williams the full-back

and the number eight, Mervyn Davies.

I remember him as a gangly number eight coming from London Welsh

and wondering what sort of player he'd ever make.

There was more meat on a skewer and I just wondered how effective

he be in the scrum.

Wales were in need of some help up front.

They hadn't tasted success for some time.

In 1967, we were looking at the first ever Welsh team

to be whitewashed in the Championship.

Then the following season we didn't really get very good results.

Then suddenly, 1969, Mervyn in at number eight, JPR in at 15,

they were the missing ingredient.

-COMMENTATOR:

-A good try.

It's the new number eight forward, Davies.

On the day, Merv helped Wales beat Scotland, 17-3.

As the new Welsh team notched up one success after another that

season, their new number eight caught the attention of the Press.

Mervyn Davies, the number eight, inexperienced

but has done a lot of very useful work.

His rise is meteoric.

That prompted the Evening Standard to say, there's a story here.

So the story came out, "Look it's Merv the Swerve".

He did say that he'd never actually swerved in his life but it rhymes.

We all as rugby players do, took the Mick out of him, you know.

What is this all about? And, it stuck.

Swerve rose to the challenge of playing for his country.

Number eight for Wales, big Mervyn Davies, who has been

one of the big successes this season, come into the side...

With Merv's help, Wales ended the 1969 season

as holders of the Triple Crown.

He learned his rugby at international level.

In that group, we're talking about top class international players

and all of a sudden he's amongst that.

He began reading the game better, knowing what was expected of him

and as a result of that he developed into an outstanding number eight.

Mervyn's first try for Wales

came during his second international season at Twickenham

when he realised every Welshman's dream.

-COMMENTATOR:

-It's a try!

It's Mervyn Davies who scores.

He was by now part of a close-knit core of London Welsh players,

at the heart of the national team.

Sunday morning at six o'clock in the morning,

we'd be jumping into a car and going down to Wales.

It was usually John Dawes's Mini.

Sometimes we had people like Merv, Geoff Evans,

Mike Roberts, JPR or JT,

not all of them, but at least four, maybe even five, in a Mini.

Merv became part of the group and four of us rented a house.

We became almost blood brothers.

-COMMENTATOR:

-This is Barry John.

In 1971, Mervyn and John Taylor helped Wales

end 19 years in the wilderness...

A great try for Evans.

..with their first Grand Slam since 1952.

John Williams, Gerald Davies and Ian Smith get him.

It's Gerald Davies for Wales.

That summer, 13 Welsh plays were chosen to join the cream

of British rugby on the Lions 1971 tour of New Zealand.

Among them were John Taylor and Merv.

For both men, Wales's own tour of New Zealand, two years earlier,

had provided an object lesson in the brutal physicality

of the All Blacks.

Wales really under pressure now.

We'd been stuffed two years earlier as Wales

and we knew that we were up against it.

When we were back in 1971, it was revenge time.

Vengeance would not come easy.

The Lions had never won a test series in New Zealand.

Mervyn was ready for the challenge.

By this time he was a much stronger animal

than had been two years earlier. He could mix it and match it.

I mean, he had a mean streak in him, when he needed it.

That's what gained you respect down in New Zealand.

Yes there was kicking, there was gouging, there was fighting

but again I expected it.

As long as all the forwards stuck together. OK, we'll take it.

He was very, very good at being able to keep all that under control.

Deal with it, take the physical punishment and a bit out

but still focus on the main aim which was getting the ball.

He was in his element on the New Zealand rugby tour.

That's what I needed, I enjoyed that challenge side of it,

especially in the physical sense of sport.

I needed that challenge and I got it there, there's no doubt about it.

-COMMENTATOR:

-On the 25, good tackle by Mervyn Davies, a cruncher.

One of those squaring up to Merv on the field was the driving force

of the All Blacks pack, Captain Colin Meads.

Here he is once again, the man himself, ten yards short of glory.

CHEERING

He was always there, you know.

He had great big long arms, grappling for the ball.

He seemed to always have his hands on the ball.

He was just a darn nuisance to play against,

which is the sign of a good forward.

The Lions had taken the first test, 9-3.

New Zealand hit back a fortnight later winning, 22-12.

What a brilliant score!

When the teams met for a third time in Wellington,

it was all to play for.

Davies is there! Gerald Davies has scored a try.

Taylor, deflection.

Edwards...

Can he get there to Barry John?

Barry John has scored. What a try!

The Lions have done it.

That's one of the great feats in rugby history,

as far as British Lions are concerned.

The Lions drew the final game,

winning a series in New Zealand for the first time in their history.

To go and beat New Zealand on their own park, and do something nobody

else had ever done before, was tremendous

It was... I grew up, if you like.

The Lions touched down at Heathrow

to be greeted by thousands of jubilant fans.

Soon after his return to Britain, Mervyn paid a visit to the Rhondda

to call in on an old friend.

That's really when our relationship took off.

The players went to Downing Street, met the Prime Minister of the time,

trips to Buckingham Palace and so on.

It was awesome for me to be part of that.

Now that he had a sweetheart in Wales,

Mervyn's days at London Welsh were numbered.

He suddenly started disappearing to Wales more often

than had been the case.

We knew he was seeing Shirley and he suddenly announced,

"You're not going to like this Buzz, I'm going back to Wales."

Mervyn left the club that had turned him into a world-class player,

in order to return home to the one his father had once played for...

..Swansea.

People were in awe of him, he was a god as far as rugby was concerned.

He took the pressure off the rest of us because people were afraid of

what he was going to do and the rest of us could get on with the game.

In 1973 Mervyn and Shirley got married

and moved into a house of their own.

Soon afterwards Mervyn was once again selected

to represent the Lions.

We been married about a year

when he went to South Africa for three months.

The Lions decision to tour South Africa during the era of apartheid

was hotly opposed by both protesters and the British Government.

For Mervyn, politics took second place to the sporting challenge.

It was 78 years since the Lions

had last won a test series in South Africa.

He had a lot to prove

because his mother felt that his rugby career would dip

now that he was married.

And, I think, he had become possibly a little complacent.

He also had the competition with Andy Ripley.

Andy Ripley was more athletic than Merv.

He had had a good season for England and was the favourite.

In the early provincial games, Mervyn pulled out all the stops

to make his bid for a place in the first test.

Mervyn again.

Davies must be able to score for the Lions.

Oh, a magnificent try by Mervyn Davies.

I got the nod and I was dead chuffed that I got into the test side.

Bennett to Mervyn Davies...

Mervyn stayed in the test team for the whole of the tour

as the Lions steamrollered across South Africa.

Williams a yard to go and he scores!

They played hard both on the field and off it.

There it is.

The Springboks fought back but they were outclassed.

These are unpleasant scenes.

Really, this is a giant free-for-all.

The Lions won three tests and drew a fourth to take the series.

It's JJ Williams again.

He's going to score into the post.

-REPORTER:

-The British Lions rugby tourists return to a big welcome

after their triumphant tour of South Africa.

Mervyn was once again part of a victorious team,

greeted as conquering heroes on their return home.

Nine months after that homecoming, Merv became a father

with the birth of his son, Christopher.

This was a time of great change for him in many ways.

John Dawes was by now coaching the Welsh team.

Gareth Edwards had been captain, but not for much longer.

Gareth, undoubtedly, was a world-class player

but he got himself involved in the game

and we needed someone who could stand a little bit apart

from the game and see what other people could contribute.

If the captaincy was going to come off Gareth,

it had to go to someone special.

Someone the players would respect and react to, and that was Mervyn.

There's no greater honour for a Welsh sportsmen than to play

rugby for Wales but add that to the captaincy of Wales,

that's got to be the ultimate accolade.

Despite Mervyn's achievements as a player,

this would be the first time he'd captained the team

since his days in college.

A good palm to Edwards, Bevan...

In the 1975 season, Mervyn led a revitalised Welsh team,

featuring six new caps.

Gerald Davies is there, this could be a score for Davies. He's got it!

Only a 12-10 defeat by Scotland denied Wales their Grand Slam.

With the five Nations title under their belts,

this was a team that was going places.

We felt that under the surface, all season,

that something was bubbling, something was happening.

Mervyn Davies, to Edwards, to Bennett...

The 1976 season kicked off with a bang at Twickenham.

Here's John Williams now.

Can John Williams score his third try? Yes, he can!

The unique individual talents of Wales's '76 team,

gelled under Mervyn's captaincy.

He wasn't a talking captain.

He wasn't a tactician. What he was is the epitome, he led by example.

Tremendous tackle there by Mervyn Davies.

When he was captain, he was massively popular.

His team talks were all inspirational, really

and we knew if we followed Mervyn, he set the standard, we'd win.

Mervyn Davies, the captain, palms to Edwards.

Bennett getting a lovely service now.

Gravell bouncing off that tackle, it could be another try for Wales.

Bennett going himself.

Oh, brilliant dummy!

That season, Wales notched up one win after another

right up to their final game at the Arms Park.

The last game was probably the proudest moments of my life

in a Welsh shirt out on the national field there.

We were playing France.

It was us or them for the Championship.

Huge pass all the way along to Gravell.

Gerald Davies defending.

He's over the 22 metres line,

it's a try for France.

The first 15 minutes of that game, I thought they were going to run riot.

Merv was so tenacious at clawing us back into that game.

Early in the game, Mervyn was flattened by the French pack.

A stud punctured his calf muscle.

The team physio ordered Merv off the field

but he was in no mood to listen.

With his leg swelling painfully, he soldiered on.

This is Phil Bennett.

There's a chance here for Kenwyn.

JJ Williams must score.

CHEERING

Mervyn Davies, as captain of Wales, as they've won the Grand Slam.

To be carried off Arms Park by your players is something to remember.

You know, winning the Grand Slam,

as captain, you can't get better.

This was the crowning achievement of Mervyn's career to date.

But with a return trip to New Zealand by the Lions on the horizon,

there was the promise of even greater glory.

John Dawes asked me, probably 12 months before the tour,

would I like to go to New Zealand again?

I said, "No, it's too hard.

"I'd been out there twice, it's physically and mentally draining."

"Why don't you go as captain?" "I'll think about that."

Just three weeks after he'd led Wales to victory in Cardiff,

Mervyn was back, captaining Swansea in the semi-final

of the 1976 WRU Challenge Cup.

It was a game that I was taking in my stride.

It wouldn't have caused me any great nervousness

but it seemed that I was on edge and something was obviously wrong.

People put it down to nerves.

Good ball for the Whites. Mervyn Davies not able to pick up.

It was my first Mother's Day, 1976

and I travelled up to the Arms Park with the other wives

and girlfriends and we sat in the stand.

There was a line-out and the ball went to the back of the line-out.

A good throw by Majors and Mervyn Davies one very good ball.

We want the ball for a change and I remember we all went past

and then all of a sudden we noticed Swerve had collapsed on the floor.

Mervyn was down but play continued with most of the players

and crowd unaware of what had happened to him.

Trevor Evans trying to get away. Woodward, out to Blyth.

Here comes another try.

The injury is to Mervyn Davies who served the ball from the ruck.

We all thought that he'd either been punched

or he'd had an awkward fall but he was absolutely out.

It was evident within seconds that it was a very, very serious.

There was absolutely no movement at all from him.

No response whatsoever.

Mervyn had stopped breathing.

He was given mouth-to-mouth on the pitch before being stretchered off.

Under the stand he had to be resuscitated a second time.

It was just a whirlwind.

I rushed around to the dressing room where they were attending to him

but I was kept away from him until he was put into the ambulance.

Mervyn was rushed to Cardiff's Royal infirmary

and then to the University Hospital of Wales.

They confirmed that he had actually suffered a brain haemorrhage

and that if he had collapsed anywhere else,

he probably would have died.

He's had a subarachnoid haemorrhage

and this is an unpleasant and dangerous condition.

-REPORTER:

-How dangerous, is his life in danger?

Yes, I think, it's fair to say it is.

Mervyn lay unconscious for over a week as his body recovered

the strength to survive the highly dangerous brain surgery he required.

To say it was traumatic is rather an understatement

because he was so young. He was 29.

We had an 11-month-old son.

It was almost hourly phone calls. "What's the situation?"

"Well, he's still critical but he's breathing by himself now."

We really didn't think he was going to make it.

4,000 good luck messages poured into the hospital from well-wishers

across the globe. Finally, nine days after his collapse,

Mervyn underwent an operation that involved nine medical staff

and lasted three hours.

When I came to, it was all over, really.

I was alive and the expectations were I would remain alive.

-REPORTER:

-You're looking pretty well,

what sort of treatment have you had at the University Hospital?

Well, I think, I don't remember the first few weeks

but obviously the operation itself was very successful.

I think, my progress since then has been quite good.

After a month in hospital, Mervyn was finally allowed home.

He was a fighter. He was determined to drive as quickly as he could.

We lived in a close and he had his brother sit with him, driving

round and round there until he felt he could muster driving again.

He made a very rapid recovery, as far as he could.

He was obviously never quite the same again, physically.

He limped a bit, he had this weakness down the left side.

The thing that went with that weakness,

his eyesight was terribly badly affected.

Steps were a hurdle, I'd often fall over.

Little things you could do before, like jump over two-foot high fence.

The co-ordination had gone.

We adjusted to it. Mervyn wasn't one to look for pity.

And, I didn't give it.

He got involved with all the usual things and family life

and we just got on with it.

But ahead of Mervyn lay a long psychological struggle

to come to terms with the legacy of his brain injury.

From competing, shall we say, against New Zealand one minute

to not being able to beat my one-year-old son at Tiddlywinks

was a hard battle, if you like, to come to terms with.

What do I do instead of rugby?

I can't play tennis, I can't play squash. I can't play golf.

Yes, sorry I can do them all! But be not very, very good at.

And have no chance of winning. That hurts, I can't accept that.

I need a chance to win.

Rugby gave me all that I wanted, that 80 minutes was mind-blowing.

It must be like, think of people who take drugs,

it's a mind-blowing experience and it didn't just last for 80 minutes,

it lasted for a good few hours after that.

A high, if you like. I had nothing to replace that.

He felt robbed, that this had been ripped away from him

and, I believe, that he made certain decisions,

personally and professionally, that he would not have otherwise done,

if it hadn't been for the brain haemorrhage.

Life became a little bit problematic.

How do fill in this void, if you like?

The local pub got a bit of a hammering, sort of thing

and that didn't work, really.

I think what happened, the drinking became an excuse.

It was the one party we could still share his company with.

We could go out and have a pint with him, or what have you.

He would enjoy that.

A lot of people, I think, in Swansea,

tried to do what they thought was the best for him

and offered him partnerships, shares,

directorship in a few companies

but they were mainly bars and restaurants

and what they really wanted him to do

was go there and shake and greet and booze with the regulars.

I don't think that was very good for him.

There was a spell, certainly, where he was drinking too much.

I feel quite ashamed of the fact that I could have

found solace in the bottom of a glass of beer, if you like.

You have to pull yourself together and say,

"Right, there's more to life than sitting wallowing

"in your own self pity".

Mervyn's marriage to Shirley became one of the casualties of this

turbulent period in his life.

The couple later divorced.

In the years following his injury,

Mervyn tried to find a new role for himself.

He coached a local club for a few years, but that didn't work out.

He was still without direction when he crossed paths with Jeni,

an old friend from his days at Swansea College.

He went through a very hard time of finding himself again.

He didn't have a purpose in life, I felt, any longer.

And, his heart was still in rugby.

Mervyn and Jeni later married.

During their time together,

Merv would often recall the glory days of his rugby career.

Some stories that he said were very amusing and I said,

"Well, you can always talk about this.

"People would love to hear about it."

And, he started after-dinner speaking.

At first, he was very, very nervous

but over a period of years he became really, really excellent, I thought.

It certainly gave him a sense of direction

and he got some of his self-esteem back.

I was really proud of him.

In 2001, Merv's former team-mate chose him as the first chairman

of Welsh rugby's ex-players association.

A year later, rugby fans voted Mervyn

the greatest Welsh captain of all time.

In 2011, Mervyn was diagnosed with lung cancer.

He died in March 2012, aged just 65.

I remember him every minute of the day.

He was liked by everybody and respected by everybody.

If I had to choose an international team, throughout the ages,

I think his name would go down first as a number eight.

The respect that he has worldwide is just immense.

Rugby wise, the best number eight Wales has ever had.

The best of the very best, as a player and as a man,

you can't ask for more than that.

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